


We Will Find Our Way Through The Dark

by Ashleyparker2815



Series: Until It Disappeared From Me [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Kidnapped Peter Parker, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Sleep Deprivation, Slight forced, Tony Angst, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, a little bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:09:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29432949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleyparker2815/pseuds/Ashleyparker2815
Summary: As Peter grows up with his family by his side, he struggles with all the obstacles life throws at him with sleep deprivation and anxiety on top of recovering from living a lie with his kidnapper for seven years.With a hidden threat lurking in the distance, he soon starts to spiral downwards into an empty void. He doesn’t know whose going to be able to pull him out this time.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Until It Disappeared From Me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162031
Comments: 94
Kudos: 192





	1. Life as we know it

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel we all have been waiting for! Thank you sooo much for all your lovely comments on the last chapter of To Build A Home, I’ll get back to all of you soon:) the first fic is coming to an end and now this fic is just starting so I hope you all like it as much as I do:) 
> 
> The sequel title is from the same song that To Build A Home is from,, I was deciding on soooo many titles but this one stuck with me. And the title of this fic was going to be something COMPLETELY different but after a few days I was like nope that’s not gonna work out so I came up with this one:) 
> 
> I want to give a huge huge thank you to professorkumquat for helping me with this fic and helping me build this story up. So thank you so much!! 
> 
> This fic is going to be quite dark at times so I’ll be putting any additional warnings up in the chapter notes for any chapters that need it. 
> 
> Also I feel like 7 is a common number in this fic, so far Steve has had Peter for seven years in total and Tony has had Peter for seven years also other reasons that you can look out for:)) 
> 
> Enjoy:)

Tony sat in his car and texted Pepper back. 

When he looked out his car window, his eyes immediately landed on Peter who was saying bye to his friend and making his way towards the car. 

A smile was breaking out across both Peter’s and Tony’s face. Since the car was tinted, Peter was only smiling at the fact that he was going to be seeing his dad in a short few seconds. 

He opened up the passenger door and threw himself in so he could practically jump over the center console to hug his dad. “Hey, I missed you.” 

Tony was used to this. It was one of the many things he looked forward to during the day, picking Peter up and seeing his big, beautiful smile on his face. 

“I missed you too. Did you have a good day at school?” Tony asked after Peter was pulling away from him and throwing his backpack into the backseat then turning around to get his seatbelt on. 

“Yeah! Mr. Martin let us watch a movie in biochemistry class today and then in English, Ned sneezed so hard that his water came out of his nose. It was so funny.” Peter explained to his dad and reached over to grab the man’s hand, starting to play with his wedding ring just to be close to his dad and touching him. 

Tony let Peter play with his ring. He was used to the frequent gesture by now. “It sounds like you had a fun Friday.” Tony turned out onto the Main Street to go drive to pick Morgan up. “Are you excited for the weekend? You know who’s coming to visit us?” 

Peter couldn’t stop the excited squeal that he let out. “Yes! Harley! Are we picking him up?” 

Tony loved seeing Peter so excited about something which happened quite often. Peter was a happy boy. “No, he’s already driving so he should be home before you go to bed.” 

Tony looked over at Peter. He could see the under eye circles getting worse and worse on his face. He wasn’t too worried about it since they’ve dealt with the phase before but it seemed to be lasting longer this time. 

Peter was having difficulty sleeping. Tony and Pepper have dealt with the sleep issues for a long time with Peter and they would come and go, some nights were better than others but recently, Peter has been having a really tough time. 

They’ve been doing everything to help him since the not sleeping phase happens about once a month and last three days to a week but this time, it’s been going on for two weeks now. 

All three of them were lacking sleep and struggling. 

Tony would spend a little over two hours trying to get Peter to fall asleep but then Peter would sleep for three hours and wake up screaming due to night terrors. The nights he couldn’t wake up, he’d end up wetting the bed and refuse to go back to sleep for the rest of the night. 

Tony could see it on Peter’s face even though Peter was trying so hard not to show it. 

When Peter thought no one was looking, he would rub at his eyes or yawn. Tony saw it every time though. 

Peter let go of Tony’s hand to try and hide his yawn. Tony looked over at him and pulled up to a red light. “You can see Harley tomorrow morning. He’s home for two weeks. He’s not going anywhere, baby.” 

Peter gave Tony a dirty look. “I’m not a baby. I’m not ten anymore, I-I don’t need to go to bed at eight anymore like Morgan.” 

Tony nodded. He has this conversation about ten times a day with Peter. “Alright. We’re picking up food and you get to pick. What do you want?” 

“Uh… Burger King.” Peter answered and hid another yawn that Tony chose to ignore this time. It was going to be another long and hard night. 

Peter started to eat the fries while they waited in the pick up lane of Morgan’s school. Tony reached over to grab some as well. He let Peter eat because he didn’t know if Peter was going to be able to stay awake till dinner. 

Morgan ran to the car and climbed in the back, reaching forward to hug Peter. “Hi! Hey, I want some fries.” 

Peter handed her some of his. “Did you paint me another picture? I told my teacher that you always paint me a picture so he said next art class I should paint you one.” 

Tony looked over at Peter suspiciously. “It’s Friday. You had art class today.” 

Peter tensed up but tried to hide it. “Yeah… I meant like… n-next art class. Do you want more fries, Morg? Me and dad ordered like a lot.” 

Morgan was reaching forward for some. “Obviously. Hand it back.” 

Peter handed her back her pack and shoved more into his mouth. Tony didn’t comment on anything since they would be home soon and then he could talk to Pepper about it. 

Once they got home, Peter was the first one out and ran inside. He immediately ran towards the kitchen to hug Pepper. “Mom! I missed you. I brought fries.” Peter pulled away after greeting his mom and jumped on top of the counter to sit. 

“How was school, baby?” She asked, reaching into the bag to grab her own fries. 

Peter swung his legs back and forth. “Good. Can we watch a movie when Harley comes?” 

Pepper turned to look at her baby’s face. He looked even more tired than he looked this morning. She knew how Peter got when they mentioned bedtime so she decided just to say yes. “Sure, baby. He’s not coming until later tonight though.” 

“I know.” Peter said like it was obvious. 

“Kid, you better give me extra cuddles later for carrying in your food and your backpack.” Tony placed the backpack on the floor and handed the bag to Peter. “Get your butt off the counter and go wash up before we eat.” 

Peter playfully rolled his eyes and hopped off the counter to go upstairs. 

Tony waited until Peter was gone to speak. “Do you think we should try and get him to sleep before Harley gets back or let him try and wait up for him?” 

Pepper thought about it. “Let’s see how the night goes. He seems like he’s in a good mood for now.” 

Tony didn’t have time to answer because the phone was ringing so he quickly chewed and swallowed so he could answer it. “Hello?” 

“Hi. This is Mr. Skims. I’m Peter’s art teacher and I just have a few concerns I’d like to talk about.” 

Tony’s eyes went wide. Okay. This wasn’t good. “Alright. Is everything okay?” 

“I’ve been noticing that Peter has been acting a bit different this past week. He seems unmotivated and quiet. Two days in a row now I’ve had to wake him up because he fell asleep in my class.” The teacher explained to Tony. 

Tony wasn’t surprised they were getting a phone call from Peter’s teacher but it made him feel like such a bad parent. Maybe they shouldn’t have sent him to school? “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Peter’s been having some difficulty sleeping at night so we’re working on it.” 

Pepper looked at Tony, now understanding what the conversation was about. She waited until the phone call was done before speaking. “Who was that? His principal?” 

Tony hung the phone up. “Nope. Art teacher.” So that’s why he didn’t make Morgan anything, because he fell asleep. 

Peter took that moment to walk into the kitchen wearing track pants and a white shirt. “Hey, your art teacher just called me.” 

Peter froze and looked between both his parents. “Oh.” 

“Yeah. Oh. You’re falling asleep in class now.” It was a statement, not a question but Peter decided to answer it anyways. 

“No. I’m not.” He lied. 

Tony crossed his arms. He was trying not to push Peter too hard because they knew they had to be more gentle with Peter than Morgan and Harley but Tony wasn’t going to tolerate Peter straight up lying to his face. 

“If you want to lie to my face then you can go upstairs and get ready for bed right now.” Tony warned him. He was not going to let Peter lie. 

Peter took a breath as if he was going to say something but he shut his mouth and looked down. “Fine. I fell asleep in class but don’t send me to my room.” 

Tony uncrossed his arms and leaned against the counter. He saw how stiff Peter was so he was kinda feeling bad for threatening to send the boy to his room for the night. “So you can’t sleep in your bed but you can sleep in class?” 

Peter continued to stare at the floor, not moving. “No. I mean… I couldn’t help it. Okay? Can we just forget about it now?” 

Pepper walked towards Peter to pull him in for a hug that Peter immediately accepted. “We’ll stop talking about it for now. Go eat your dinner because I think Morgan wanted you to watch tv with her.” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes as he looked over at Tony and grabbed his food to join Morgan on the couch. 

“Leave it for tonight, Tony. He’s over tired.” 

“He’s always over tired.” Tony hated this phase that might be more than just a phase now. Peter was clearly struggling with a lot. He hadn’t had a proper night sleep in weeks. That meant neither Pepper or Tony were sleeping. 

Tony tried to offer up his sleep so Pepper could sleep. He would stay with Peter and lie with him in his bed while Peter tossed and turned and then got so frustrated that he started to cry. It was hard. 

“I’m gonna do the laundry. Can you tell Peter to empty his gym clothes in a few minutes?” Pepper asked, pulling Tony from his thoughts. 

“What? Yeah. Yeah, I’ll tell him.” He grabbed his food and went to go join his kids and tell Peter but when he walked over to the couch, Peter was passed out. 

Tony sighed in utter relief. It wasn’t even six o’clock yet but that was okay. Peter was sleeping and that’s what his body needed right now. 

He sat down on the couch and stretched his feet up on the coffee table, looking over at Morgan. “Morg, turn it down a bit.” 

Morgan turned it down and looked over at Peter. “He didn’t even eat anything. Maybe we should wake him up.” 

“No.” Tony was quick to mention. “He’s not sleeping well, he needs as much sleep as possible.” 

Morgan looked sad. “I know. I hear him crying at night sometimes.” 

Tony tried so hard so that Morgan didn’t have to hear her older brother crying in pain and frustration every night but apparently she heard all along. “I don’t want you to hear that.” 

“Is Peter sad? Maybe-maybe because he’s not happy with us anymore.” Morgan wiped at her dry eyes and curled in on herself. 

That was another thing that they had to work on. A little after a year after they got Peter back, Morgan suddenly started freaking out every time Peter got mad or sad and thought that he was going to want to go back to Steve. No matter how many times they reassured her that Peter didn’t want that, Morgan would still think it. 

He thought she would understand by now but she didn’t. 

“Pete’s just having trouble sleeping at night so it makes him extra tired and cranky throughout the day.” Tony explained to her. He never really talked to Morgan about it since he didn’t know that she knew. 

Morgan frowned. “Oh. Maybe if he has his water bottle again like he used to then it’ll help him.” 

Tony thought about it. It wasn’t actually a bad idea. It used to work when Peter was younger but then he stopped drinking from it after he didn’t need it anymore. He definitely needs it now so Tony would try it again and hopefully it works. 

He began looking through his phone, not really paying any attention to anything else. He was planning on taking his family on a vacation somewhere to get away for a bit but now he wasn’t so sure that was the best idea. 

Between Peter’s insomnia and Harley crazy schedule, he wasn’t so sure it was the best idea anymore. Pepper was pulling him from his thoughts by sitting down next to him with a tea in her hands. 

“What’re you guys watching?” She asked quietly, smiling over at Peter’s sleeping form. 

Tony turned his phone off. “Uh… I don’t know, one of Morgan’s cartoons.” He rubbed at his eyes and yawned. “I’m exhausted.” 

“I can put Peter to bed tonight. You need your rest, Tony. When was the last time you slept?” Pepper asked him and he thought about it but he couldn’t remember. 

“Uhh… Peter fell asleep for a little bit last night so I got in an hour or so.” He knew that wasn’t enough but if Peter was awake, at least one of them had to be awake to help him sleep as well. It was always Tony. 

“I’ll take him tonight. You need a full night's sleep.” She leaned her head on his shoulder briefly. Tony was going to argue against it but he didn’t. He nodded, he really did need his sleep. 

Tony turned his phone back on but Morgan was standing up suddenly. “The couch’s all wet.” 

Both parents were looking at the side of her leg that was pressed up against Peter’s lower half. No. Not again. Tony stood up to remove the blanket that was half covering Peter and sighed in defeat. 

“Peter peed on the couch.” Morgan pointed out and tried to get a closer look but Tony was pulling her away. 

“Don’t. Just… go upstairs with your mom please. I’ll handle this-” 

Peter was opening his eyes and immediately sitting up with slight discomfort on his face. Tony saw the exact moment Peter realized what happened and wanted so badly to make this stop. Peter couldn’t catch a break. 

“It’s okay, Petey, it was just an accident and-” 

Pepper was quietly telling Morgan to be quiet as she pulled the girl out of the room to give Peter some privacy. Peter narrowed his eyes at Morgan and watched them leave before letting out a sob. 

“It’s alright, Pete. It happ-” 

“No! Don’t touch me.” Peter yelled at him, moving his arm roughly out of Tony’s hand. “Just… leave me alone.” 

“It’s okay, Peter.” Tony tried again but didn’t touch Peter this time. 

Peter stood up, looking down at his now wet pants and moving to the side. Tony could tell he was trying so hard not to cry so he was making the more pitiful sounds. 

Tony watched him, waiting to see what Peter’s next move was going to be. Peter sucked in a breath of air and turned to walk out of the room to head upstairs. “Please just… leave me alone.” 

“Peter-” 

“No, dad! I-I did this last night too and-and… I can’t sleep! I’m so tired and I can’t sleep and I just wanna be left alone so please. Leave me alone.” Peter walked down the hallway, sucking in a shaky breath of air and wiping at his running nose before running upstairs. 

Tony waited until he heard the door slam before letting out the breath of air he was holding in unconsciously. 

He cleaned up the mess on the couch, well used to cleaning up Peter’s accidents by now. 

Upstairs, Peter ripped open his dresser drawers to pull out clean clothes and then left his bedroom to take a much needed shower. He saw Morgan standing at the end of the hallway looking at him so he paused, giving her a dirty look before disappearing into the bathroom and locking the door behind him. 

He tried so hard not to cry but no matter how hard he tried every time, his body disobeyed him which resulted in a lot of tears. So, Peter sat on the closed toilet seat and bit his thumb to stop the sobs from escaping his mouth. 

After a few minutes of that, he took a calming breath and stripped from his wet clothes to get into the shower. Peter didn’t know what was wrong with him. He knew why something was wrong with him but no matter how hard he tried to not think about that part of his life, he couldn’t help it. 

He was happy now but he couldn’t help but think of Steve. Peter hated that he thought of the man and he hated what followed those thoughts but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t help it. 

Sometimes he wondered what life would have been like for him now if he stayed with Steve. If he never knew that life he was living was a lie, if he still believed Steve was his father. 

Peter knew that he wouldn’t have been as happy as he was now, well, not right in that moment but in general. He knew that he wouldn’t have learned how to swim or tie his shoes or visit Malibu and swim in the ocean with his brother and sister. He wouldn’t know what it was like to be squeezed in the centre of a tight hug with his family and he definitely wouldn’t know what it was like to be held by his mother and feel her gentle fingers comb through his curls. 

But he also wouldn’t know that he was missing all of that and that he was living a lie and sometimes, sometimes Peter just wants to forget about that fact that half of his life was lived a lie. 

He hates that so much. 

Peter squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think of something else but he couldn’t. He wanted to know what Steve was doing, if he still loved him and thought of him but Peter hated that man so much he wanted him dead sometimes. Most of the time actually. 

Peter knew that he should tell his mom and dad what’s going on inside his head, they always wanted to know but he was scared. He was scared that they were going to hate him or be angry at him for having these constant thoughts. 

With that, Peter got out of the shower and dried himself off as quickly as possible so he could leave the house and go to his secret spot. He knew he wasn’t allowed to go there anymore but he felt like he needed to right now. 

He made sure he didn’t bump into anyone on his way out the front door. He was finally tall enough to just reach the top latch on the door so he could open it now without anyone helping him or dragging a chair up. He also secretly knew the alarm to stop from going off every time the door opened up. 

So after he did that, he left. 

Peter planned on going back home. He wasn’t running away but he just needed some time to clear his mind. 

He walked down the street and then across the small field towards the broken tree that was struck by lightning two summers ago during a bad rain storm. 

Peter sat on the log under it and pulled his feet up, hugging his knees and sighing. 

He wanted to talk to someone but he didn’t know how or what to say and that was so frustrating. No one understood him. Morgan was his best friend in the world but he sometimes didn’t want to share some of his secrets with her. 

They were extremely close but he knew he couldn’t talk to anyone about what was going on in his head and that made him want to cry. 

“Hey.” 

Peter jumped, almost falling off the log at the sudden voice. He only relaxed when he saw who it was. 

“Hi.” 

Tony put his hands in his pocket and stood in front of Peter. “You know I don’t like you leaving the house by yourself.” 

Peter shrugged. “Morgans allowed to walk over to her friends house by herself.” 

“Because her friend lives two doors down. Meanwhile you’re running away from home to go sit under some dead tree without telling anyone where you’re going.” It wasn’t the first time Tony found Peter here but it was definitely going to be the last time. 

Peter looked up at his dad to give him a dirty look. “I didn’t run away from home.” 

“Yeah? You’re just temporarily leaving then. Get up. We’re going back.” Tony turned to leave but Peter didn’t make any move. 

“No.” 

“Excuse me? Can you say that again because I thought I just heard you say no to me.” 

Peter swallowed. “That’s because I did. I’m not going home, dad.” 

Tony eyed Peter for a few seconds before going to sit next to him on the log. “What’s going on, bud?” When Peter didn’t say anything, Tony tried to guess. “Is it me? Is there something going on at school? Is it a girl? Do you have a crush or-” 

“No.” Peter shook his head aggressively. “No, it’s not a girl and it’s not school or you just, it’s nothing, okay?” Peter sighed. He wished it was as easy as girl problems like his normal friends have. He can’t even remember the last time he had a crush on a girl or even thought of a girl. Maybe when he was four in kindergarten. 

Tony smiled despite the situation. Peter was so special and so much different than other boys his age but he loved that so much. It was what made him Peter so it was hurting him to see his boy hurting so much and not know why. 

“Tell me. I can help.” Tony gently nudged Peter’s shoulder to get him to start talking. 

Peter sighed. He could try to tell his dad what was on his mind right now with him coming there. “You and mom treat me differently than you treat Morgan and Harley.” 

Tony couldn’t deny that. They babied Peter and tried so hard not to but it was the truth. They had more patience with Peter and let him get away with a lot more. 

“Alright. That’s true.” 

Peter ripped apart a leaf in his hands. “Why?” 

Tony thought about it. He knew Peter knew why but he didn’t know what he wanted to hear. “Your mom and I love you guys all so much but we love all of you differently.” 

Peter understood that. “Last week when I asked to go over to Max’s house you and mom had to talk about it for like two hours and then when Morgan asks to go to her friends house, you say yes straight away. Does that mean you love me more or less?” 

Tony looked over at Peter. “It means we love you differently than we do with Morgan, Peter.” He stared at Peter for a few seconds before deciding to tell him something. “When I can’t find Morgan for a few seconds, I simply call her name a few more times or go check her bedroom. If I can’t find you or if you even leave my sight for a second, my heart drops and I feel like I can’t breathe until I lay my eyes on you and can see that you’re okay. I’m terrified of losing you, Peter, because I already lost you once. I won’t survive losing you again, okay? That’s a different kind of love.” 

Peter didn’t know any of that. “Oh.” He knew his dad always chose to sit next to him during movie nights and pulled him right up against his side until Peter was practically sitting on his lap and Peter let him but now he was guessing that it probably calmed his dad to know he was close and okay. 

“Yeah.” Tony didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t know if he shared too much but now it was Peter’s turn. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?” 

“No. I-I’m fine, dad.” Peter lied. He knew it was so obvious that he was lying because his voice went even higher. 

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Tony wanted to know. He needed to know so he could help. 

“You don’t want to know what’s going on in my head.” Peter knew his dad wouldn’t like that but it was the truth. 

It wasn’t what Tony wanted to hear but he could work with it. “Talk to me, baby.” 

Peter couldn’t help it. Hearing his dad call him baby was the last string holding him sane. He immediately started crumbling down. 

“Aww, baby. It’s okay. I’m here. Daddy’s here, baby boy.” Tony immediately wrapped his arms around Peter and pulled him against his side so Peter was throwing his leg over his own leg so he was sitting on his knee. 

Peter cried against his chest. It was a broken cry and it broke the fathers heart having to listen to his child be in so much pain and not know how to help him. 

Tony knew it wasn’t going to fix anything but at least Peter was letting it all go so he wasn’t holding everything in all the time. 

It was going to be a rough night. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I hope you guys liked that:) 
> 
> Sooo just to clarify a few things. Peter is 14, Morgan is 10 and Harley is 20 and in college. Morgan is the same age Peter was in the other fic and I’m trying to write her a lot more mature than Peter was at that time since Peter basically acted like a baby most of the time lol 
> 
> Also Happy Valentine’s Day!!


	2. I will fall before you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you allll for all your lovely comments and support! I was trying to figure something out for my school and I was so stressed then I looked at my phone to some new comments and I felt so happy! So thank you all for the support:) 
> 
> Here’s another chapter:) the next chapter I will be posting on Friday 
> 
> Enjoy!

Peter tried so hard to stay awake. 

He didn’t know why he felt so tired but as soon as his head hit the pillow, he began tossing and turning for the whole night. 

It was beyond frustrating at this point. 

Tony looked over at Peter in the living room. It was just after eight and Harley was supposed to be here any minute now and Peter was trying so hard to stay awake. 

He wanted to help him but he had to do something important first so he grabbed his drill and the new lock and walked towards the front door. 

Tony didn’t want to do this. He wasn’t doing it for Peter to feel like a prisoner in his own home but it was for Peter’s own safety. He put the new lock down for now and started to drill two holes into the top of the door where Peter couldn’t reach. 

He turned around to catch Peter’s eye. “I don’t want you leaving the house unattended or without permission.” 

Peter shrugged and took a seat on the bottom step to watch, pulling his knees up and resting his head in his hands. “This seems a little… extra. And unnecessary.” 

Tony opened up the new lock and measured it against the door. “Well… oh well.” 

“You’re acting like I’m Rapunzel.” Peter laughed followed by a yawn that he tried to cover up. 

Tony chuckled, glancing over at Peter briefly. “Might as well with that long hair you got going on. Maybe I’ll chop it all off while you sleep.” If you sleep. 

Peter tugged at one of his curls and smiled. “I like my hair long.” 

Tony did too. He loved it. “Me too.” He finished putting the lock on and reached up to test it out. “Come over here and try to unlock it.” 

Peter stood up and walked towards his dad, standing on his tippy toes to try and reach it but he wasn’t even close. Tony grinned. Mission accomplished. “Perfect. It’s Peter proof.” 

He poked Peter in the side, causing the kid to let out a shriek. Peter then followed his dad back into the living room and watched him. 

Tony checked the time. Harley would be there soon but Peter looked exhausted. He wanted to help Peter stay awake, just so he could see his older brother for a bit. “Peter, come over here for a sec.” 

Peter forced his eyes open and walked over to where his dad was waiting for him by the entrance to the living room. When Tony began walking towards the stairs, Peter started shaking his head. “No. I’m not going to bed.” 

“I know. I’m not going to your room. Just come.” Tony continued to walk upstairs and instead of going into Peter’s bedroom, Tony walked into his and Pepper’s and into their closet. 

Peter looked longingly towards their bed. He wanted to sleep with his parents so badly but he didn’t want to seem like a baby and ask. He knew no matter where he slept he still wouldn’t be able to sleep so it’s not like it mattered anyways. 

Peter looked towards the closet and walked in, watching his dad dig through a basket of clothes. “What’re you doing?” 

Tony didn’t answer him. He could have sworn Pepper hid it in here. It wasn’t like he could ask her since she was currently busy on the phone but he only came up here to help Peter stay awake and gave something to do until Harley got home. 

“Found it.” Tony pulled out a wrapped welcome home present that they got for Harley. It was something little but it was the thought that counted. Of course since they got something for Harley, they didn’t want their two youngest to feel left out so they got something for the two of them as well. 

“Presents for our babies. Help me carry them downstairs.” Tony tossed a present at him and stood up to go back downstairs but just as they were getting to the top of the stairs, the doorbell was ringing which had all the exhaustion draining from Peter’s face. 

Peter raced down the stairs, wanting to hug his older brother and never let go of him again. It’s been over a month and a half since he’s seen his brother in person and he missed him so much. 

Peter began jumping up to unlock the door which made Tony make a mental reminder to move the locks up and change the password for the alarm. 

Once the door was open, Peter didn’t even give Harley the chance to step in before he was throwing himself into his brother's arms. “Harley! I missed you so much!” 

“Hey, Petey. I missed you too. Woah! Look at this hair, there’s so much!” Harley ran his fingers through his little brother's hair, letting the soft curls run along his fingers and feeling incredibly grateful to be home. 

Peter was jumping up so he could wrap his legs around Harley and after so many years of Peter doing this to his older brother, Harley knew what Peter wanted without even having to verbally ask for it. 

Peter wrapped his legs around Harley’s waist and his arms around his neck, not allowing anyone else to have access to him since Peter wanted him all for himself. 

Tony watched his two boys greet each other but it was his turn to hug his oldest. “Hey, Harls. I missed you so much.” 

“Hi dad. I have so much to tell you.” Harley hugged his dad back with the one arm that wasn’t supporting Peter. 

It was difficult to hug Harley with Peter wrapped around him like an octopus but he managed. A bonus that he got a half Peter hug in the process. 

There were loud footsteps running towards them so Tony moved out of the way so he wasn’t hit upon impact. “Harley!” 

“Morgan, hey.” Harley couldn’t believe how much Morgan grew. “Woah! Look how big you are now. You’re almost as tall as Peter.” 

Peter made a face at that and turned to look at Harley. “No. I’m fourteen. She’s only ten.” 

“How could I forget you’re so old now.” Harley teased just as Pepper was rushing towards her oldest. “Mom!” 

Pepper pushed passed Tony to wrap her arms around Harley. “Oh Harley. I missed you so much. I want to show you what your dad built in our room. We also painted the walls in the living room to brighten it up.” 

Harley tried to shift Peter onto his other arm since it was losing feeling. Peter wasn’t nearly as light as he was when he was ten. “Yeah. Can I put you down now, Pete? My arm hurts.” 

Peter grinned and shook his head into Harley’s neck. “You’re mine.” 

“He missed you.” Tony patted Peter’s back and told Harley. It was obvious that Peter was using Harley as a pillow and taking in the physical contact he missed so much. 

Whenever Harley came for a visit, Peter claimed him for the rest of the night. 

It was the worst possible news for both Morgan and Peter and even Tony and Pepper as well when Harley had to leave for college. Peter cried like it was the end of the world and the only thing that got him through it was the video calls twice a day in the beginning. 

Harley took off his shoes but wasn’t able to take his jacket off with Peter clinging onto him. “I really need to pee. My bladder is about to burst.” 

“I wanna come with you.” Peter joked but he was actually being serious. 

Tony stepped in to relieve his poor son so he didn’t have to clean up more accidents today. “Let go of Harley so he can go pee while you go get his present.” 

Peter gasped and kicked his legs to be put down just as Harley sighed with relief and disappeared into the bathroom. 

Morgan chased Peter into the living room after grabbing the presents and jumping onto the couch. 

When Morgan tried to grab Harley’s present out of his hands, Peter kicked her in the arm and screamed. Both Pepper and Tony saw that but they let Peter get away with a lot and recently, he got away with a lot more. “Peter, don’t kick your sister.” Tony warned and grabbed the present out of Peter’s hands but he had to be careful since any little thing could trigger Peter when he was this sleep deprived. 

“No! I-I had it first! Not Morgan!” Peter stood up on the couch and wiped dramatically at his eyes but Tony didn’t make any move to hand it back to him. 

“Do not kick your sister. Say sorry.” He looked over at Morgan who barely reacted to Peter’s kick and it was hard. As sad as it was, she was used to it after four years of Peter doing it. She hit Peter too, she once gave him a black eye but Peter cried for the rest of the day and Morgan got him a present since she felt so bad. 

“Sorry!” Peter yelled but looked at Tony while he said it so Tony grabbed his arm and forced him to face Morgan. “Sorry.” 

Tony handed the present back to Peter with a warning. “You’re going up to bed soon so calm down now.” 

Peter gave Tony an extremely dirty look that Tony was used to by now. He got it every time he mentioned bedtime. 

Harley was walking into the living room and looking around. “It looks like a different house in here. You got new couches. Again. And a new tv.” 

Tony sat down and crossed one leg over the other. “Peter spilled red paint all over the couch. It looked like a murder scene in here. We just needed a new tv.” 

“Sit next to me so you can open your present.” Peter patted the spot next to him and pushed Morgan away with his feet so Tony grabbed his arms and pulled him into a standing position. “Hey. Ow.” 

“Stop. Are you telling me you’re ready for bed now?” Tony asked, not letting go of Peter’s arm. 

“Get off me.” Peter tried to rip his arm away from Tony so Tony was standing up and about to walk away with Peter. “Say goodnight to everyone-” 

“No! I’m sorry!” Peter begged his dad. He wasn’t even tired anymore and he wanted to stay close to his brother without Morgan here since she would take the attention away from him. “I’ll sit next to Harley on that couch.” Peter pointed to the other couch that was a two seater. 

Tony let go of his arm and sat back down. Harley raised his eyebrows at his dad but Tony shook his head, silently telling him he would tell him later. 

Pepper shut some of the lights off so it was more cozy. “Have you been working out, Harley? Your arms are huge.” 

Harley smiled proudly and flexed his muscles. “Yep. My friend and I go to the gym every morning. You should see his arms.” 

“Is he your inspiration?” Tony chuckled. Every time he called Harley on his way home from dropping his kids off at school, Harley was always at the gym. 

“Yeah-” 

“Open your present now.” Peter shoved the item on his brother's lap and leaned his heavy head against the back of the couch, concealing a yawn and briefly making eye contact with Tony. 

“Thanks. What is it? Wanna help me open it, Pete?” Harley placed his present in between his and Peter’s lap and got help from Peter to open it. “Woah. Are you serious?” Harley took the box and examined it to make sure what he was seeing was actually real. “No.” 

Tony knew Harley had been asking for the watch for over a year now and it was the best time to get it for him. “Surprise.” 

Harley stood up to hug his parents then sat back down next to Peter who was trying to see the watch. 

Next, Peter and Morgan opened up their presents. Morgan was extremely excited and got a Barbie camper while Peter was dancing on the line between sleep and consciousness. He got a lego set but didn’t really react. 

Harley nudged Peter, completely out of the loop of their nighttime struggles with Peter. “You’re ready for bed, Pete. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” 

Tony was shaking his head and standing up. “No. Don’t worry, Pete.” Harley looked up at Tony, confused, so Tony quickly shook his head. 

“Can we watch a movie?” Peter asked. 

Tony hoped that put Peter to sleep so he nodded. “Yeah… come sit next to me then.” 

Peter wrapped an arm around Harley’s stomach. “I wanna stay with Harley.” 

Tony wasn’t surprised. He got comfortable on the couch all by himself. The movie started and he missed his cuddle buddy. Morgan always started out by herself and then eventually cuddled with Pepper while Tony had Peter the whole movie but now, Peter was with Harley. 

He looked over at the boys. Harley was looking extremely bored while Peter was tucked under his arm and moving every other minute. Tony watched them, not paying any attention to the movie.

Peter went from lying fully against Harley to sitting up for a few minutes then putting his legs up against the back of the couch. This continued for half the movie then Peter was getting off the couch and looking straight at Tony. 

Tony knew what he wanted so he held his arm out for his boy and waited until Peter was tucked safely against his side where he was always supposed to be. 

“Don’t let me fall asleep.” Peter whispered to him with a hint of desperation in his voice. 

Tony didn’t say anything. He pressed a kiss to Peter’s hair and hugged him closer but that wasn’t good enough for Peter. “Dad. Don’t let me fall asleep. I-I don’t wanna… you know, again.” 

“Alright, baby. I won’t let you fall asleep.” Tony would rather have Peter’s trust more than anything so he carefully watched him throughout the rest of the movie. Peter drifted off two times so Tony gently shook him awake both times. 

He hated doing that but he wasn’t going to betray Peter. 

Once the movie was over, Harley stretched dramatically and looked over at everyone. “I didn’t get that ending. It was so random.” 

Morgan yawned. “Yeah. It was stupid.” 

Tony rubbed Peter’s back. He felt Peter tense since Peter knew what time it was. “You ready?” 

Peter shook his head and pressed it deeper into Tony’s stomach. “No.” 

He looked over at Pepper and sighed. It was time for the thing they dreaded most each day. “Let’s go up, bud. It’s time for bed.” 

It only came as a shock to Harley when Peter started crying. The rest of the family was used to this since it’s been two weeks of the same thing. 

Tony pulled Peter up, grateful that he didn’t have to drag Peter upstairs this time. Peter wiped at his eyes, continuing to cry the whole way upstairs. Tony didn’t try to give him any comfort right now since he knew it wouldn’t help. 

He pulled clean pyjamas out of Peter’s drawer and handed them to him. “Go shower and brush your teeth and I’ll be here.” 

He got the bedroom ready, pulling back Peter’s blankets and making sure his blankie that he had since he was a baby was there. Next, he sat down to wait for Peter. He had to do the rest of the bedtime routine with Peter there since he understood it was bedtime and not time for anything else. 

Harley walked in the room and leaned against the doorframe. “Mom said this happens every night.” 

Tony nodded. “Yep. Every night for the past two weeks. You know he goes through phases but this… this one isn’t going anyway. It takes me around three hours to put him to sleep, he’ll sleep for around two and either wake up screaming or wet the bed and wake up.” 

“Oh. I didn’t know it was so bad.” Harley looked towards the bathroom door where Peter was. He knew his brother was going through a lot but he didn’t know it was this bad and that made him feel guilty for not being around more. 

“Yeah. Natasha’s coming over tomorrow to talk with him. Maybe we have to put him back in therapy. I don’t know.” Back when Peter was twelve, he went to therapy once a week for a few months and it really helped him to stop sucking his thumb which was a long overdue habit but it also helped him better express his feelings. 

They learned early on that Peter found it incredibly hard to express his feelings using words. He still struggled a lot with that. It was why Peter kicked or punched Morgan when she did something that bugged him. It’s why he cried so easily and screamed because he felt a strong emotion he didn’t know how to handle and would lash out instead of using words. 

They were still working on it. 

Tony looked towards the doorway and spotted Peter walking in. “Crawl into bed.” He said, standing up and looking over at Harley, silently telling him to leave now. 

Peter climbed into bed and laid down, immediately grabbing his blanket and hugging it to his chest as he watched Tony. The crying stopped for now but Tony knew it was going to start up again in an hour or so once the frustration took over Peter. 

Tony walked towards the window to shut the curtains then moved to turn on the projector to show the stars on the ceiling. Tony then turned on the sound machine that played gentle water sounds, next was turning off the light and getting into bed next to Peter. 

He spotted Asier walking in and lying down on the floor. No matter how hard and loud Peter cried at nights, Asier didn’t move from his spot on the ground. 

Peter sighed. 

Tony and Pepper tried everything. 

They tried to calm Peter down by watching some tv but that only made him more awake. They took him in the car but that also only made him more awake, Tony even tried to turn a hot shower on to help the steam put Peter to sleep but that didn’t work. Pepper rubbed cream on his chest and that didn’t work either. 

Tony laid down so he was holding his head up with his arm. Peter kept his eyes open and stared at nothing in particular. “Close your eyes. It’s time to sleep.” 

He turned Peter onto his stomach so he could start patting his back, knowing he was going to be doing this for about twenty minutes until Peter started to shift around and then that’s when the crying started. 

After thirty minutes, Pepper would come in to shut the star projector off, something that silently told Peter it was getting late and that it was time for him to go to bed now. It helped a bit but it didn’t work. 

Peter moved so he was now lying on his side with his eyes still open. Tony grabbed him to force him back on his stomach and continued patting his back. 

He tried to wonder why Peter was struggling so hard to fall asleep. They were doing everything to calm him down and yet, nothing. 

Peter lifted his head up again but Tony put it back down. 

The door was being opened but Tony didn’t even look since he knew it was Pepper turning off the projector before going to bed. Peter lifted his head back up to look at Pepper and Tony was again, pushing him back down. 

The room was almost pitch black, the only light coming from the nightlight in the corner of Peter’s room. 

After Tony’s eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see that Peter still had his eyes open and was looking around the room so Tony lifted him up and rolled him on his back so Tony could cover his hand over Peter’s eyes. 

He could feel Peter’s eyelashes tickling his hand but he still didn’t say anything, knowing he had to stay quiet or Peter was going to try and initiate conversation. 

Over an hour later, Peter started to get annoyed that he was still awake so he sat up in bed and whimpered. Tony gently laid him back down and turned him on his stomach to start patting his butt now. 

He was only doing that for about ten minutes before Peter was whimpering again and sitting up but again, Tony laid him back down and continued doing what he was doing. 

After the fifth time, Tony realized that Peter was about to start crying so after Peter sat up, Tony didn’t lay him back down. He wanted to see what Peter would do. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes for about a minute and then looked towards the window and looked around his room. Tony didn’t move. He didn’t know if Peter could see him or not but he watched as Peter sat there. Minutes passed by without Peter moving but then he started crawling towards the end of the bed to get off so Tony lifted his leg up and sat up to lie Peter back down. 

That was when the crying started. 

“I’m not tired!” Peter cried out, fighting against Tony so he couldn’t lie down. 

He tried to run his fingers through Peter’s hair to get him to stop crying but nothing worked. 

The crying was usually what put Peter to sleep eventually but after an hour, Peter was still crying and wasn’t asleep yet and Tony knew this was going on too long now. 

Pepper walked into the bedroom to see what was going on. “Is he still awake?” 

“Yes.” Tony gritted out. He was beyond exhausted. 

“It’s 3:24 in the morning.” Pepper walked towards the end of the bed and reached over to rub Peter’s stomach. “What do you need? Talk to us, Peter. We’re trying but we need you to tell us.” 

Peter kicked his legs out, kicking all the blankets to the end of the bed. Tony got out of bed and held his arms out towards Peter. He knew he wasn’t going to get him to sleep. It just wasn’t going to happen in the bed so he had a different plan. 

“I’m gonna take him in the car. I know it didn’t work last night but I don’t know what else to do.” Tony lifted Peter up out of the bed and set him on his feet, grabbing Peter’s blankets as well as his whole comforter. He could wash it later. 

Pepper followed them downstairs. “Alright. Call me if you need me or anything.” 

Tony got his shoes on but he didn’t plan on getting Peter any shoes since he was only walking from the house to the car. Tony hoped this worked. He was so desperate. 

They all went outside together to get Peter tucked comfortably into the back of the van. Peter moved to a booster seat when he was twelve and stopped using it shortly after he turned thirteen before he was allowed to sit in the front seat. Both parents held off for as long as possible for safety reasons but now Tony wanted Peter in the back seat so he could have more space and be more comfortable. 

Once all the blankets were in the van, Tony helped Peter climb in and got him all bundled up with his comforter and his blanket. “I’m gonna get in the driver's seat. We’re gonna go for a drive.” 

He shut the door and looked at Pepper. “I’m really worried, Pep. I don’t know what else to do.” 

“I know. I’m gonna see what I can figure out while you guys are gone.” She pressed a kiss to his lips and then went back inside the house while Tony got into the car. He turned it on and blasted the heat then turned on some music on low volume. 

He needed this to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that:) I’m writing chapter 13 of this fic right now and ahhhhh! I’m so excited for you guys to read it like just omg 
> 
> Anyways, because of the bad weather I might be staying home from work tmr but that stresses me a bit out because I don’t want to get my hopes up if I am going but also because my work is AWFUL and I will like get in trouble or something for not going. I hate it there


	3. Where do we go from here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am next level tired! I can’t even begin to express how tired I am, maybe Peter understands haha! I’m quitting my job so only three more weeks left and also then I will be possibly posting this fic twice a week:)

Tony didn’t know how they ended up at Niagara Falls. 

He didn’t plan on driving for too long, just around in circles a couple of times until Peter fell asleep but Peter never ended up falling asleep so Tony drove seven hours to Niagara Falls and now he had to call Pepper and tell her where they were. 

Peter didn’t end up falling asleep but he didn’t start crying so Tony didn’t know what to do. His fourteen year old was pulling all nighters and now Peter was so tired that he was worried he was going to have to bring Peter to the hospital. 

Tony was parked in the parking lot of a hotel. He pulled out his phone and looked at Peter who was staring at him in the back seat, he was incredibly pale and had huge under eye circles. 

The phone started ringing so Tony prepared himself. “Why are you in Niagara Falls?” 

Tony didn’t tell her that. He updated her throughout the drive but that was it. He assumed that it was because his location was on and he was just remembering that now. “Peter didn’t sleep at all. I just kept driving and ended up here.” 

Tony heard Pepper sigh loudly on the other end. “He didn’t sleep at all?” 

“Nope. He’s awake right now. We’re parked at some hotel.” Tony looked in the back at Peter for a few seconds. Peter was silent, Tony would guess he was sleeping if he didn’t have his eyes open and was looking at him. 

“I called a sleep clinic and I want to bring Peter there tonight.” Pepper told Tony and before, Tony would immediately be saying no to the idea but Peter wasn’t sleeping and that wasn’t good. Not for anyone. 

“Alright. What time?” He needed to know when they should start driving back. 

“Eight. Can you be back for then?” 

Tony checked the time. It was 11:15am. “Yeah, I’m gonna go through a drive-thru and then I’ll start driving back.” 

“I wanna talk to mom.” Peter leaned forward to reach for the phone. 

“Pete wants to talk to you.” Tony told her then handed the phone back. He assumed that Peter would tell him if he needed to go pee. They stopped a few times along the way so he knew they would be stopping again. 

“Mom.” Peter whimpered into the phone. 

“Hi baby. You and dad went really far.” Pepper wanted to cry at hearing Peter’s voice. He sounded so sad. 

“I-I’m tired.” Peter looked out the car window. He loved going to new places with his family but he didn’t care about where he was right now. He was tired and he couldn’t sleep and that was all he could care about. 

“I know, baby. Rest your eyes. You’ll be home soon. Just close your eyes and think of something nice.” 

Peter tried to close his eyes but every time he did, he thought about all the nightmares that were waiting for him in his dreams and all the scary thoughts he was having recently allowing themselves to come back full force and scare him so he immediately opened them again and whimpered. 

“Dad.” Peter whined out. “I want you to pat my back.” 

Tony wished so badly that he could but it wasn’t possible right now. “I will as soon as I can, baby. Just close your eyes.” 

Peter whimpered louder. 

“How about I talk to you, okay?” Pepper suggested. Peter nodded his head but Pepper couldn’t see him so she took his silence as a yes and began talking to him about her day and anything to try and get Peter to fall asleep. 

.  
.  
.

As everything they tried, it was a fail. 

Tony drove over fourteen hours in one day and he was ready to sleep himself but he knew he wasn’t going to get any sleep as long as Peter wasn’t sleeping. 

It was half past six by the time they got home. Peter was still awake when Tony pulled into the driveway, just as Pepper, Morgan and Harley were coming back from walking Asier. 

Morgan ran up to the van and opened up the back door. “Hi Petey. Why do you have all your blankets in the car?” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes but didn’t say anything. Pepper appeared at Morgan’s side with Harley and pressed a kiss to Peter’s face. “Come, baby. Let’s go inside so daddy and I can talk to you.” 

Tony rounded the car to reach in and take off Peter’s seatbelt. “Want me to carry you or do you wanna walk?” Tony could tell that something was wrong with his baby because Peter was a hyperactive child. He was constantly on the move and now, he sat through a fourteen hour car ride and only spoke up or wanted to move when he needed to go pee. 

“Walk.” Peter answered and got out of the van to pet Asier. 

“Did he sleep?” Pepper asked him. 

“Nope.” Tony was ready to go to this sleep clinic. It was way overdue and desperately needed. 

Harley took Morgan upstairs so his parents could talk to Peter. 

Peter willingly let Tony lead him over to the couch and sat down. Pepper started. “Your dad and I are trying to do everything we can to get you to sleep but no matter what we do, it’s not working, baby.” 

“I know.” Peter wiped his nose. “I’m sorry. My-my body is so stupid and won’t let me sleep. E-even though I’m trying. I’m sorry. You don’t have to stay awake with me anymore, okay?” 

Peter knew his dad was losing sleep with him. He wasn’t stupid. He saw it on the man’s face more and more each day and even though he pretended not to see it, he saw the looks his parents shared. 

“Don’t say that. Your body isn’t stupid, it’s telling you something but your mom and I don’t know what it is which is why we are going to take you to a sleep clinic tonight.” Tony waited for Peter’s reaction. He had no idea how he was going to react. 

Peter looked at his dad. “A sleep clinic? What’s that?” 

Pepper reached out to hold his hand, rubbing her thumb over it but Peter was pulling away and standing up. “No. No. Are-are you sending me away?! Because-because you don’t wanna deal with me anymore? I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I promise I’ll try harder. Okay? Okay, just-just don’t send me away-” 

“Stop. Peter. Oh my god.” Tony grabbed both of Peter’s hands so he would stop freaking out. “Just breathe. Breathe. Okay? Why would we send you away?” 

Peter couldn’t stop shaking. “Because-because I’m too much work. M-Morgan sleeps on her own but-but I can’t and-and-and m-maybe you guys don’t want me anymore-” 

“Stop it.” Tony pulled Peter onto his lap. He felt sick hearing Peter think that. Has Peter been feeling that way all this time? They told him they loved him every single day and showed him just how much they loved him through their actions. “We all love you more than words can explain. You’re our baby. You’re the reason that we all wake up with a purpose every single day, Peter. I don’t want you to ever think we don’t love you. What you’re going through… it’s hard but we’re going to figure it out.” 

Pepper reached over to grab onto Peter’s hand again. “I love you so much, Peter. I love you so much I don’t know what to do with all my love. This sleep clinic, it’ll help us figure out what’s going on in your brain.” 

Peter frowned. He didn’t want anyone to know what he was thinking all the time. “No. I don’t want anyone to look inside my brain. I just want to sleep. And not have any nightmares or-or pee in my bed.” 

Tony squeezed Peter a little bit tighter. It was hard but they would figure it out. 

“That’s what this sleep clinic will help with. They’re trained professionals who are going to hook up… kinda like strickers to your forehead and then they’ll watch you sleep.” Tony didn’t know if he explained that correctly. 

Peter didn’t like the sounds of that. “People watch me sleep…?” 

“They’re doctors. And mom and I will be there the whole time, okay?” Tony reassured him by squeezing his thigh. Peter leaned into him more. 

“Okay… can I um… can I bring my blankie?” Peter asked. He couldn’t sleep in general but he definitely couldn’t sleep without his blanket. 

“Of course. We’re gonna change and then we’ll leave now so go wash up quickly.” Tony waited for Peter to crawl off his lap and go upstairs before turning to Pepper. “This better work. I don’t know what to do if it doesn’t work.” 

.  
.  
.

Peter was sat between both of his parents in the waiting room. 

His mom was filling out some forms while his dad texted Harley on his phone so Peter leaned against his arm to read the texts. “What’s he saying?” 

“He just put Morgan to bed and now he’s going to let Asier out before bed.” Tony answered him. Although Morgan didn’t have separation anxiety from her parents, she was still young and was a bit sad when they told her she would be alone with only Harley. 

Peter on the other hand would have freaked out if he found out his parents were leaving with one of his siblings, making the trip impossible. 

Peter looked at his bag that was between his legs. He packed his pyjamas, blankie, toothbrush and toothpaste as well as clothes for tomorrow. He’s never been for a sleepover in his entire life so he was a bit scared now although his parents would be with him so it wasn’t exactly like a sleepover. 

“Mr. Stark, Mrs. Stark, we’re ready for you now.” A lady, dressed in light blue scrubs with her blonde hair up in a bun was telling them. 

Peter felt his heart start to race. He wanted to do this but he was so scared. 

Tony placed a grounding hand on Peter’s shoulder and led him into the hallway with Pepper and the lady. 

“Follow me this way. My name is Dr. Ally and I’ll be getting you all set up for tonight. First, we’ll have Peter go change and get ready for bed and then we’ll all go into the sleep room to get set up. If you need any help or if you need anything, please let me know.” She opened up a door that led inside a bright white room. It had couches along the wall with a cabinet full of towels and bathroom stalls. 

All three of them walked inside the room but Peter was immediately freaking out now that he was alone with his parents. “I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m scared. I-I wanna go home to my own bed.” 

Tony sat on the couch and pulled Peter to stand between his legs. “Baby, if we take you home, we’ll be up all night again. Remember how frustrating that is?” 

Peter nodded and wiped at his eyes. 

“So this will help you. We’re both gonna be here the whole time. We’re not going anywhere.” Tony reassured him. “How about we get you ready now, okay?” 

Peter nodded again so after he was done changing into his pyjamas and brushing his teeth, all three of them were leaving the bathroom and walking into the sleep room. There was a bed in the middle of the room that looked like a less advanced hospital bed. 

There were no windows leading to outside, only a mirror which Tony knew was a two sided mirror where they would be watching Peter from. 

By the door, there was another white couch and a table in front of it. Off to the side was where all the equipment was. 

“I’m going to explain everything that’s going to happen now. Can you please sit down?” Dr. Ally pulled up a stool and sat down as well. Tony pulled Peter onto his lap and placed his hands over his belly to help calm him. Peter immediately melted into him so Tony really hoped he fell asleep quickly. 

“So I’m going to attach these monitors to your face but don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt. It’s kinda like a bunch of stickers on your face. That way, it helps us to take a look and see why you’re having such difficulty sleeping. There will be a belt that will go around your waist and chest to help us monitor your breathing. Then, a tiny tube will go into your nose to help us make sure you’re breathing properly.” 

Peter didn’t like the sounds of any of that. He turned his face away and whimpered but Tony rubbed his back. “It’s okay. It’s gonna help you, remember, baby?” 

“Mm hm.” 

Dr. Ally was standing up and walking over to the bed. “Alright. Can you come crawl in, Peter?” 

Peter didn’t have a choice since his dad was standing up and forcing him onto his feet. “Wait! Blankie.” 

Pepper grabbed it out of the bag for Peter so he took it and climbed into the bed while still holding onto his dad's arms. It was a quick but uncomfortable process of getting all the wires hooked up to his body. 

Tony turned to the doctor. “Uh, he might wet the bed, he won’t like, get shocked with all these wires if he does?” 

She smiled warmly and shook her head. “Absolutely not. Your wife told me everything that’s been happening so we’ve set everything up according to what will help your son the best.” 

Tony was grateful for that. He couldn’t tell who was more nervous, him or Peter. “Alright, baby boy. Lie down now.” He grabbed Peter’s blankie and tucked it against his chest so it was under Peter’s chin. “I love you. Try to shut your eyes and sleep.” 

Peter was looking up at him with such sad, terrified eyes it broke Tony’s heart. “I wanna go home. These are uncomfortable on my face.” 

“I know. It’ll be okay. Just close your eyes baby.” Tony ran a hand through Peter’s hair. His whole face was covered in wires so there wasn’t anywhere Tony could kiss him so he decided to kiss his hair. 

“I love you so much. We’ll be right outside.” Pepper kissed Peter’s hair too but it was as if Peter was realizing what was happening right now so he sat up. 

“Wait, you aren’t staying in here with me?” He asked, starting to panic. 

Tony was waiting for this. “See that mirror? You can’t see in but mom and I will be right on the other side, watching you.” 

Peter whimpered. He was so scared. “And you’ll stay, right? The whole night? Even-even if I fall asleep? And-and if I don’t fall asleep, you won’t be mad?” 

“We’ll stay the whole time and if you don’t fall asleep, no one will be mad. You let your body do what it needs to do.” Tony really hoped this worked. 

He gave Peter another kiss and gently laid him down then left the room. Pure their request, a dim light had to be on in the room. Tony suggested they bring all of Peter’s stuff that they used to help him sleep at home but they decided not to. 

He took a seat next to Pepper behind the two way mirror and tried to relax. He knew how hard Peter struggled to fall asleep with him there, it was even harder for him to do it by himself but Peter hadn’t slept for over a full day so hopefully that’ll help now to get him to actually fall asleep. 

Now all they had to do was wait. 

Tony could see how upset Peter was getting and since he wasn’t there to push his head back down on the pillow, Peter was sitting up in bed and rubbing at his eyes for a few minutes before lying back down. 

That continued for about twenty minutes but it was when they passed the hour mark and Peter started to cry was when it really broke both parents to not be able to go in there and help their baby. 

Tony started fidgeting. He wanted to go in there so badly but he knew he couldn’t disrupt the sleep study. 

The crying only went on for about ten minutes and then it was quieting down which Tony knew meant Peter was falling asleep. If he was in the bed with Peter, it meant that he had to remain incredibly still and even sometimes when he thinks Peter’s asleep, he’s not so Tony has to wait. 

The monitor on the screens started to change so the doctor pointed at it. “He’s asleep. Can you see the change here?” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah.” 

“So now we’re going to observe him and see the changes.” 

Tony grabbed onto Pepper’s hand to watch the monitor together. If tonight went like every other night, Peter would be waking up in about two hours either screaming or to a wet bed. Tony really hoped none of that happened for Peter’s sake but in a way, he hoped it did happen so they could get to the bottom of this and stop it. 

A little over two hours later, the microphone started picking up on Peter whimpering and then the monitor wavelengths were riding way above the line. 

“What’s happening? What does that mean?” Pepper asked, leaning over Tony to look at the monitor. 

“He’s having a nightmare. It should pass in about ten seconds.” She explained to them and after ten seconds, the monitor was still showing the active wavelengths. “It should have stopped by now.” 

They all looked up at Peter who was starting to shake his head back and forth on his pillow and then he was screaming and sitting up in bed. Tony didn’t wait anymore, he didn’t care about the sleep study, his kid was terrified and he was going to comfort him. 

Tony opened up the door with Pepper following behind him. “You’re okay, Peter. It was just a bad dream.” When Peter saw him, he held his arms out to him so Tony quickly sat on the bed and pulled Peter into his arms. “Shh, you’re okay. I’m here.” 

Peter cried violently against him and shook so Tony held him a little bit tighter. He rubbed his hand along Peter’s back to try and get him to calm down. “You’re okay.” 

After a few minutes, Peter calmed down enough to lift his head off Tony’s chest. “I-I don’t wanna go back to s-sleep.” 

Pepper rubbed his back. “You need more sleep, baby. Let’s lie down again, okay?” 

When Tony went to lie Peter back down, he arched his back so Tony couldn’t. “What is it?” 

“I’m scared I’m gonna have an-another bad dream. I wanna go downstairs.” Peter told Tony in a panic and it was then that Tony realized Peter didn’t even know where he was since he was so delirious with sleep exhaustion. 

He tried to lay Peter back down again after checking his pants, grateful that they were dry. “Shh, close your eyes.” He placed his hand over Peter’s eyes and stayed in that position for a few minutes until Peter stopped moving around so much. “We’ll come if you need us. Go to sleep.” 

When they walked back into the observation room, the doctor started speaking. “On average, nightmares tend to last a few seconds but for Peter, it went over the average time. That’s why it’s waking him up screaming or wetting the bed. He’s overtired and under so much stress that it’s preventing him from sleeping.” 

“So what do we do now?” Tony asked. He felt awful that Peter was having such bad nightmares that it was waking him up like that. 

“I can give you a prescription for sleep pills but I suggest having him talk to someone about it. He needs to open up.” The doctor explained and Tony sighed. He had a feeling that wasn’t going to solve anything. 

.  
.  
.

Tony kept a close eye on Peter for the rest of the day. 

Well, he always kept a close eye on Peter no matter what. He sometimes wished he had more eyes so he could watch Peter from all angles to make sure he was always safe but he obviously didn’t so he had to settle on his own two eyes. 

He was cooking dinner while half watching Peter complete his homework on the living room coffee table. Peter had been staring at the page for the past ten minutes and it was starting to concern Tony. 

Tony put the lid on the pot and made his way over to the living room, sitting down on the couch and squeezing Peter’s shoulder but he didn’t expect Peter to flinch and move away from him. He raised his hands up in surrender. “Hey, you’re okay. It’s just me.” 

Peter tried to relax. “Sorry. Uh, s-sorry. I just didn’t expect that.” 

Tony went to rub Peter’s back again but stopped himself. “Are you okay? Is your homework stressing you out or is there something else wrong?” 

Peter glanced towards his backpack where some papers were hidden at the bottom of his bag. If he didn’t talk about it then it didn’t have to matter. 

“I’m fine. Just trying to concentrate.” The fourteen year old glanced up at his dad briefly before quickly looking away. He didn’t like the way Tony was staring at him because Peter knew that he knew that something was wrong since his dad always knew but Peter didn’t want to explode everything he’s feeling. 

So, he quickly grabbed his books and backpack then stood up. “I’m gonna go upstairs to finish this.” 

Tony stood up with him. “Peter, wait. You can talk to me.” 

Peter paused. He stared at the floor in front of him but shook his head. I can’t because I’m scared you’ll hate me. “I’m fine, dad. I just wanna get my homework done. I’ll see you at dinner.” 

Peter quickly made his way upstairs and into his bedroom but before he could shut his door, Morgan ran towards him. “Petey. Can you play with me? I need someone to be the king.” 

“No. Ask Harley.” He went to shut his bedroom door but Morgan was pushing it open. “Leave me alone, Morgan. I have to finish my homework.” 

“No, it’s Saturday and plus you make a better king than Harley does.” Peter pushed Morgan out of the way and slammed his bedroom door, leaning against it and feeling his eyes burn with unshed tears. 

He hated feeling like this but he couldn’t stop it. 

It was a constant ache in his heart and the feeling of butterflies fluttering around in his stomach giving him horrible anxiety all the time. Especially at nights when he tries to sleep. 

Peter noticed that his thumb was inching towards his mouth again so he roughly shoved his hands into his sleeves to make sweater paws so his thumb didn’t end up in his mouth again. 

He already had to break that habit once and he didn’t want to have to do it again. Being twelve and sucking your thumb was one thing but being fourteen and sucking your thumb, it made Peter feel so pathetic, even if his parents constantly reminded him that it was normal and okay, he felt like he should just print out a sign that says loser and stick it on his forehead. 

The curtains were moving by the window and Peter’s heart dropped. He quickly went to go see what it was but it was just the vent below his window. He tried to calm his racing heart and get rid of the million thoughts that just ran through his mind. 

He was sick of thinking about his kidnapper. He just wanted to forget that part of his life. 

It wasn’t possible to do by himself, Peter knew that. He knew that he should tell his parents but he couldn’t because he didn’t know how. 

With a sigh, Peter sat in his desk chair and pulled his backpack closer so he could grab his assignment that was always on his mind. 

He had been trying so hard to forget about it but he couldn’t. It had to be done. 

It was due on Wednesday and he got it two weeks ago. 

Peter pulled it out and stared at the title again. 

Write five paragraphs about the best memory you have from your childhood. 

Peter read it again and again. 

All he could think about was his time with his kidnapper and how he stole his childhood from him. 

It took Peter a long time to come to terms with the fact that how Steve treated him was wrong on so many levels but at the time, Peter liked it. 

He remembers Steve taking care of him and even though he never let him do anything, Peter was happy with him. Well, he thought he was. And then the truth came out. 

It wasn’t until he was almost twelve where he realized that everything that was done to him was pure evil. He understood that now. It was still hard at times. 

Especially now. 

Peter read the title over again and a pathetic whimper escaped his mouth so he shut his eyes and put his head down. He just wanted this feeling to go away. 

There was a knock on his bedroom door so Peter quickly shoved the paper into his bag and wiped at his eyes. “Come in.” 

It was Tony. He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. “Dinners ready in five. Are you okay in here?” 

Peter turned on his chair so he could face his dad. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.” 

Tony looked down at his leg so Peter followed his gaze and noticed that he was shaking his leg so he immediately stopped. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom first.” 

He walked past his dad and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. His eyes were bloodshot but he didn’t know why since he hadn’t cried today but then it hit him, he hadn’t slept in two weeks. 

Ever since he got that assignment and all the thoughts and unanswered questions that he had been trying so hard to avoid, came on full force. 

He really hated feeling this way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know how sleep clinics work but I’d assume that the more activity going on in the brain means the lines will go up more 
> 
> Anyways


	4. How do I explain this

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so happy it’s finally the weekend! So I like kinda quit my job today? Idkkk but my boss is a bitch and I have 1 weeks left omg I’m soooo relieved about that! 
> 
> Also I didn’t write alllll week because work takes the life from me so I’m really happy to write allll weekend:) I’m also starting a new fic lol

Peter still wasn’t sleeping. 

Tony was losing even more sleep than Peter was but there was nothing anyone could do to help the boy fall asleep and actually stay asleep. 

Harley took a seat next to Peter who was playing with his legos on the floor before it was time for bed. As always, Morgan got ready for bed by herself but Tony went up with Peter when he got ready for bed because otherwise, Peter wouldn’t do it. 

“Can I help you?” He asked, looking at Peter’s face for his reaction. He had only been home for a few days but in those few days he could see that his little brother wasn’t the same little brother as before. Something serious was wrong and Harley wanted to get to the bottom of it. 

Peter shrugged. “If you want. You can actually help me build the roof.” He pushed over the pieces for the roof and continued to build. 

“How’s school? We haven’t really been able to talk since I got back.” Harley said, not looking at Peter. 

Peter didn’t want to talk about school. He didn’t want to talk about anything. “I don’t know.” 

“What do you mean you don’t know? You go everyday for like seven hours.” Harley couldn’t read Peter as well as their dad could but he still knew that Peter was avoiding something. 

Peter shrugged. “It’s school. It’s good I guess, nothing new.” He lied. He paused to look up at Harley. This could be it. He could tell Harley everything and then Harley would help him and hopefully tell his parents. 

But he couldn’t tell him anything. He just couldn’t. 

“I know you tell mom and dad everything but you can still talk to me if you want. I am your big brother after all.” The twenty year old reached out to ruffle Peter’s curly hair, forcing a smile. It hurt to see his baby brother in so much pain, suffering alone. 

“I don’t tell mom and dad everything.” It was true, for the most part. Peter felt like he had to share every tiny little detail of his day with his parents. From what time he went poop at to his favourite class at school that day. Every minute was accounted for but lately, he was withholding a lot from them. 

That just made him feel even worse and he hated himself so much for it. 

Tony walked into the living room at that moment. He hated to break up his son's fun but it was already late and he had to get Peter into bed. “Time to wrap this up. Say goodnight, Pete. It’s bedtime.” 

Peter felt his eyes burn. He wasn’t ready for bedtime yet. But then again, he was never ready for bedtime. 

“Night.” Peter mumbled and stood up. He made eye contact with his dad before walking past him and walking up the stairs. 

Tony waited patiently in Peter’s room for him while texting Pepper in the other room on his phone. He heard soft footsteps so he turned his phone off and looked over at Peter. “Hey, bud. Are you tired?” 

Peter hesitated next to the bed. “You don’t have to stay up with me, dad. You can just leave me for tonight.” 

Tony sat up straighter. “I’m not leaving you, bud.” 

Peter still hesitated. He felt so guilty for keeping his dad awake on top of everything else. 

“It’s fine. Just go sleep with mom. I’ll be fine.” Peter lied. He knew he wouldn’t be fine and part of him wanted his dad to say no and stay with him but he hated feeling guilty and being responsible for his dad losing sleep over him. 

“Peter. I’m not leaving you. I’ll stay until you fall asleep, even if that takes all night.” Tony has done it before and he will continue to do it. 

He patted the spot next to him and pulled the blankets back. “Lie down, bud.” 

Peter crawled into bed, crawling over his dad and staring up at the ceiling. He was so tired. He didn’t know why he couldn’t fall asleep and stay asleep but he felt like it was slowly killing him. Maybe his dad as well. 

Tony pulled the blankets up to his chin and ran his fingers through his curls to try and relax him but Peter continued to stare at the ceiling, deep in thought. 

The fourteen year old then turned to his dad and spoke. “Will I always be like this?” 

“Like what, baby?” Tony hoped so badly Peter was going to open up to him but he had to be careful he didn’t say the wrong thing. 

“Like this.” Peter sighed and tried to sit up so Tony let him this time. “Like… not sleeping. And all messed up.” 

“You’re not messed up, Peter. Don’t say that you are.” Tony hated hearing his son call himself messed up and it sadly wasn’t the first time and most likely wouldn’t be the last time. 

“Then why can’t I sleep? Morgan can fall asleep on her own. You don’t even have to tuck her in and she’s younger than me.” Peter’s thumb neared his mouth again. Both Tony and him noticed at the same time but didn’t say anything. 

Tony noticed the old habit slowly coming back and he really didn’t want Peter to start that again. It was really hard to break the first time and took years. 

“Don’t ever compare yourself to anyone, Pete. Even your siblings. It’s not healthy. You guys have-” 

Peter cut him off. “Yeah because I was kidnapped and you and mom didn’t even raise me.” 

Tony felt like all the life had been drained from him. Peter rarely brought up his kidnapping but when he did, he said it as if it was the most normal thing and Tony hated it. “Your mother and I still raised you. We just missed out on a few years, Pete.” Tony paused to stare at Peter. He could see his thumb slowly moving into his mouth so he reached out to pull his hand away. “Don’t do that.” 

Peter looked ashamed. “I want to.” 

“I know. So how about you find something else to comfort you. Remember what we did before?” Tony asked, knowing that Peter remembered since it wasn’t even that long ago. 

Peter pulled his hand away from his dad to grab onto his blanket and busied his hands with it. 

“Let’s try to sleep. Lie down.” Tony waited for Peter to lie down and then he was placing his hands over his eyes to get him to sleep. “Think of happy thoughts.” 

Peter tried. 

He thought back to a few years ago when he went to Malibu with his whole family and got to see the ocean for the first time. He thought about how him and Morgan made sand castles and fell asleep in their fort together only to wake up in his dad’s arms as he carried him up to bed. 

That was probably his favourite day. If he had to think of one day he would want to relive over and over again, it would be that day. 

Tony watched Peter’s eyes drift shut. It didn’t take as long as it usually did and there wasn’t any crying tonight but it was still taking an extremely long time for Peter to fall asleep and Tony didn’t like that. 

He debated if he should stay with Peter for the night so he could be there to put him back to sleep if he woke up but while he was trying to decide, he fell asleep himself. 

.  
.  
.

Peter slowly woke up to something warm between his legs. 

He shifted a bit in the bed as he slowly woke up but once he realized what he did, he fully woke up and sat up with a racing heart. “No. No no no.” 

Peter looked over at his dad who was sleeping next to him and that made everything so much worse. He hated having to deal with everything in his pathetic life. 

Tony felt the bed moving so he woke up, only to find Peter sitting up in bed. “Pete?” 

Peter snapped his head to look at his dad. “Just… don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” 

Tony didn’t know what Peter was talking about until he went to push himself up and his hand landed in something wet. “Oh. Okay. Do you need help changing-” 

“No.” Peter snapped and crawled off the bed. “Just… just go. And don’t tell mom. I don’t want her to know.” 

Tony sighed. “Your mom has to know, Peter. I’m not telling her to embarrass you.” 

Peter kept his back to his dad as he tried to keep his tears at bay while he grabbed clean pyjamas and then quickly left his bedroom. 

Tony watched his kid run off and sighed. It was happening way too much now. The sleepless nights and the bedwetting starting up again. Tony was quick to strip the sheets, grateful that Peter had a mattress cover and then made his way into the hallway to grab clean sheets but Pepper was walking out. 

When she saw him grabbing new sheets, she sighed sadly. “Aw. Poor boy. Is he okay?” 

“No. He ran into the bathroom but I don’t hear the shower on yet so I don’t know what he’s doing.” Tony grabbed what he needed and turned to Pepper with bloodshot eyes. “He’s not sleeping, Pep. We can’t keep doing this. And now the bedwetting is starting again and it’s getting more frequently. Should we put him back in therapy? That really worked for us last time.” 

Tony rubbed at his eyes. He couldn’t think about this right now. “I don’t know. I just want him to sleep for one night. He’s exhausted and nothing is working.” 

Pepper sighed and then opened up the laundry room door and walked inside to grab a pull-up from the box that Peter had to wear for a few months when his bedwetting got really bad, like now. Only that was a while ago so she didn’t know how Peter would take it now. 

“He’s not gonna put that on.” Tony told her, looking at what she had in her hand but she held it out for him to grab. 

“He needs to.” Pepper said as Tony took the pull-up and left to go back into Peter’s room to make his bed. He checked the time and saw that it was 4:43am. He had to wake up in a little over an hour anyways. 

When Peter walked into his bedroom a few minutes later, he was avoiding eye contact with his dad. Tony watched his body language and his heart broke for his kid. “How are you feeling?” 

Peter didn’t answer him. “Can you just leave? I don’t n-need you here.” 

Tony didn’t answer him now. He watched Peter look up at him and then did a double look at the pull-up placed on his nightstand table and Peter’s body immediately tensed

“No. No, dad. I’m not wearing that. Don’t say it.” Peter wrapped his arms around himself in a poor attempt to self comfort as he backed himself away from the bed. 

Tony grabbed the pull-up and stood up. “Pete, just put it on. It’s not that bad. Then you can actually sleep a full night and not have to worry about this.” Tony gestured to everything they went through tonight because of the bedwetting. 

Peter shook his head. “No. I don’t care. I’m not wearing one.” 

“Peter. No one will know. Just your mom and I. You can take it off when you wake up and we’ll never talk about it again.” Tony tried to explain to him, like he has so many other times but it was one thing trying to get twelve year old Peter to wear protection to bed and another thing with fourteen year old Peter. 

Peter looked up at him like he had five heads. “Mom knows? Why did you tell her? Ugh! You’re so annoying.” 

“I didn’t tell her anything. She woke up because you slammed the bathroom door and she was the one who gave me the pull-up. It wasn’t my idea.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Peter. “I know this is hard for you, buddy, but just put it on and lie down. You’ll get a full nights rest.” 

Tony kneeled down to be closer to Peter’s level since he was sitting on the carpet with his back pressed up against his dresser. “If you want me to leave the bedroom so you can put it on-” 

Peter grabbed the pull-up from his dad's hands and threw it across the room. “I’m not wearing one. Okay? It’s uncomfortable and embarrassing and I’ll wake up and know that you and mom knew and you won’t bring it up but you’ll know. So stop it. I’m not wearing one.” 

Tony sighed. “Alright.” 

Peter tried to calm down but it was hard when he couldn’t take his eyes off the offending baby wear and the fact that his dad wanted him to wear it. 

The bedroom door was opening and Pepper was walking in, spotting the pull-up on the ground and picking it up. “You decided not to wear it?” 

Peter groaned. “Can you just… leave me alone? I don’t want to talk to any of you anymore so go away.” 

Pepper didn’t move. “Peter, your father and I care about you. We aren’t trying to hurt you-” 

“Yes you are.” Peter sobbed out. “I hate you both. Just… leave me alone!” 

Peter stood up and ran past his mom, out of his bedroom and downstairs so he could hide somewhere where no one could get to him. He just wanted to be alone with his thoughts and push his parents away so it was his choice and not theirs. Since he was sure after they found out what was going on in his mind they would hate him so much. 

He stayed there with his racing mind well into the next morning. The sun wasn’t even up yet when he heard Morgan make her way downstairs and so he decided to leave the corner he was hiding out in, only to find that his dad was sitting on the other side of the couch the whole time. 

Peter wasn’t surprised to see the man there since Tony was always there when he needed him. Whether he knew it or not. 

He rubbed at his eyes as he made quick eye contact with his dad and then left to go upstairs to get dressed. He didn’t want to go to school. Thinking about having to plant a fake smile on his face and act like nothing was wrong was going to tear him apart today. 

Once he was dressed, Peter sat on his bed and pulled his phone off the nightstand table to see who had texted him. He got a text from Ned asking him if he wanted to hang out after school and Peter sighed. 

He wasn’t going to answer his friend right now since he didn’t want to deal with that. He couldn’t go to school and hang out after. It was too much. He just had to get through today without a mental breakdown in the school’s bathroom. 

Peter wasn’t hungry. He didn’t want to eat any breakfast and thankfully no one pushed him to eat anything which he was grateful for. 

Morgan was way too hyper in the morning so Peter did his best to ignore her. 

Once inside the van, Peter leaned his head against the seat and watched the sky get brighter ever so slowly. He was always dropped off first since his school started before Morgan’s did but today, he hated that. 

He really didn’t feel like going to school. 

Tony pulled up to their drop off spot and Peter whimpered but didn’t move. 

“Have a good day, buddy. I’ll pick you up after.” Tony said, looking in the rearview mirror. 

“Bye, Petey.” Morgan gave him a tiny wave but he still didn’t make a move. 

Tony turned around to see why Peter wasn’t moving. “Is the door locked? What’s up, bud?” 

Peter released a sob and started rubbing at his eyes so the tears wouldn’t fall. “I can’t. I can’t go to s-school.” 

Tony wasn’t surprised and he wasn’t going to push it. “Okay. It’s okay, you don’t have to go to school. We’ll have a quiet day today at home.” 

Peter looked over at Morgan who was staring at him and he didn’t like that so he kicked her. “Stop looking at me!” 

“Ow! Peter kicked me, dad!” Morgan stuck her tongue out at Peter and Tony really wished Pepper came for the morning drop off. 

“Both of you guys stop. Morgan, I’m dropping you off at school but Harley will pick you up.” Tony looked in the rearview mirror to see that Peter had his hands covering his eyes. His heart broke. 

This was getting really bad. 

They dropped Morgan off and made their way home but Tony couldn’t get Peter out of the car. “Do you want to go for a drive? We can if you want.” 

Peter shook his head. 

“Do you want to sit out here in the van for a bit then?” Tony tried, wanting something to break through to Peter. 

Peter shook his head and removed his hands from his eyes and looked at his dad with such broken eyes. “I just want to sleep. But I can’t.” 

“Okay. Let’s go inside and you can lie down in my bed. Do you want to do that?” Tony suggested but he also didn’t want to start the co-sleeping habit again either. 

Peter was nodding his head and taking off his seatbelt so Tony counted that as a win. 

The two of them made their way inside the house and went straight upstairs. 

“Tony?” Pepper called out from the kitchen since he always announced when he came home but not this time. She walked towards the stairs and saw Peter so she looked at Tony, sharing a look with him then left them alone. 

“You have some pyjamas in our room that you can change into. Do you want me to bring anything in from your room?” Tony asked. He didn’t even know if Peter was going to fall asleep but some quiet time would be good for him. 

Peter eyed the bed. “Uh, no. Um… just-just my blankey.” 

Once Tony was gone, Peter was quick to strip from his clothes and hop into bed, melting into the middle of it. It brought back so many safe memories of him sleeping in between his parents every night and he missed that a lot. 

He didn’t realize that half his thumb was in his mouth when his dad walked in so he quickly yanked it out and looked at him to see if he noticed. If he did, he didn’t say anything. 

“Here, baby. I’m gonna shut the lights off but I’ll keep the door open and I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” Tony sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed Peter’s curls off his face. 

Peter nodded. “Um… do you guys have a mattress protector if I…?” 

Tony gave Peter a reassuring smile. “No but it’s okay. Just rest your eyes.” 

Peter wanted to argue but he was exhausted so he just nodded and turned onto his side. 

Tony gave a kiss to his kid then stood up and went downstairs. He was drained. It felt like he had a newborn baby again and he would never admit that outloud but it was true. 

Pepper handed him a coffee and then placed a bottle of pills in front of him. “What’s this?” 

“Sleeping pills. I picked them up at the Pharmacy this morning and I think it’s time for Peter to take these-” 

Tony was immediately grabbing the pill bottle and standing up. “Absolutely not. No way in hell are we giving pills to our fourteen year old son. Hell no.” 

Pepper eyed him. “Tony, they aren’t harmful. They will help relax his body and put him to sleep. He needs this because nothing else that we’re doing is working and now his bedwetting is getting worse.” 

Tony didn’t care. He wasn’t giving drugs to his kid. “No. I’ll continue to work on it with him but I’m not giving pills to my child.” 

“Our child, Tony. He’s my son too.” Pepper sadly said but Tony didn’t respond. He was a Peter hog, he knew that. He always has been and always will be. Even though his heart breaks when Peter gets hurt, he likes it when Peter picks him to go to first or when Peter picks him to cuddle up against during movie nights. 

He had a special connection with Peter that he didn’t have with his other kids but that didn’t mean he didn’t love his other kids any less. 

“These will help him, Tony.” Pepper tried again but Tony didn’t care. 

“No. If you try to give these to Peter I’ll take him and fly him across the world. I don’t care. I’m saying no.” Tony was about to have a panic attack and he wanted to hold Peter but he had to let him rest. 

“Why not?” 

“Because… because he can’t sleep no matter how hard we try to put him to sleep and he wants to so we give him pills, he sleeps, he wants the pills the next night and the next night until he becomes dependent on them. Then, one day, the sleeping pills aren’t enough for him so he adds to those pills and then those pills aren’t enough so he tries new pills and then he becomes dependent on all these pills and he’s addicted to drugs at fourteen years old. I’m not having that for my kid.” Tony knew first hand what it was like to do drugs and feel so dependent on them. He did them in his early twenties and struggled so much to stop after he met Pepper and he was not going to let that happen to Peter. 

Pepper rubbed his arm. “It’s just sleeping pills, Tony.” 

“That’s where it starts. It’s not just sleeping pills.” He took the pill bottle back from her. “I say no. That’s final. I want these out of this house.” 

Pepper looked down and sighed. She grabbed the pills from Tony and walked over to the sink to dump them down the garbage disposal then tossed the bottle in the garbage. “Alright. We won’t give him any pills but we need to figure something else out. This isn’t working.” 

Tony sat down on the kitchen island stool. “I think he’s getting back in the habit of sucking his thumb again.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

“Because I caught him almost doing it so many times in the last few days. When I told him not to last night he said he wanted to. I don’t know what to do.” Tony sighed heavily. He felt like he was failing Peter. 

“I don’t know either. Maybe I should call his old therapist. That helped him a lot. It helped all of us.” Pepper suggested but Tony didn’t know about that. 

He was at a loss. 

.  
.  
.

Peter couldn’t fall asleep. 

He didn’t know how hard he tried for. 

He felt like he came close to it a few times but then he was jerking awake and reaching over for his dad, only to not find him there. 

He was also scared of wetting the bed and even briefly considered wearing the pull-up but decided not to. He just wanted to sleep but his mind was racing like crazy. Peter thought back to last night when he went to go hide from his parents and how his dad stayed with him the whole time even if he didn’t know that. 

His parents loved him. He knew that. 

So he didn’t know why he was so scared to tell them what was going on in his brain. 

Peter sighed. He had to tell them. It’s been long enough and he couldn’t keep living like this anymore. 

With that, Peter crawled off his parents bed. He had to suck it up and force himself to go downstairs now or else he wouldn’t be able to tell them and would change his mind. 

So Peter slowly and quietly made his way downstairs and stopped to lean against the entrance to the living room. He spotted his dad in the kitchen and his mom on the couch. “Um… can-can I um, talk to you guys?” 

Tony looked and his heart started to pound at those words. Was it a good talk or a bad talk? “Of course, buddy. Let all sit.” 

The two boys sat down on the couch so that he was sitting between both of his parents so he didn’t have to look at them. 

His mom rubbed at his back. “Take your time, sweetie. Your dad and I are here for you.” 

Peter lifted his thumb up to his mouth then sat on his hands to stop that. Tony shared a look with Pepper. “I-I… I don’t want you guys to hate me.” 

“Baby, we would never hate you. No matter what. You can tell us anything.” Tony was a bit scared now but he waited patiently for Peter to start explaining. 

“I just um… a few weeks ago, at school, for my English class, I um…” Peter paused. This was it. He was about to tell his parents everything. “I got this project. It was an assignment where we had to write about our favourite memory from our childhood and-and when I read it, at first I didn’t think about any of you guys or-or my life now but I thought about like… my life before. With him.” 

Tony nodded. He was trying to place all the puzzle pieces together and it was starting to make a little bit more sense. 

Peter continued. “Don’t be mad. I just… then I couldn’t get him out of my mind all day and all that night then I wet the bed and then I did the next night and the next night and I tried to sleep but I couldn’t because my brain just isn’t shutting off and I keep having nightmares and… thoughts… of stuff that I don’t like and I can’t concentrate at school or at anything and I’m so tired but I’m scared you guys will hate me.” 

Peter took a breath. That felt good. That felt extremely good to spill everything he’s been holding in for over two weeks now. 

Tony rubbed at his back. “When did you get the assignment?” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “Um… maybe two weeks ago. It was due already but I didn’t do it.” 

Tony couldn’t help but smile because he just found out why Peter wasn’t sleeping or functioning. The assignment was why. “Oh baby. Why didn’t you tell me and mom sooner? That’s why you can’t sleep and you’re struggling so much. It’s because of that assignment.” 

Peter rubbed at his leaking eyes. “Y-yeah.” 

Pepper couldn’t stop from rubbing at her own eyes. “Can you tell us what you’re thinking? We can help you and no matter what it is, we won’t be mad at you.” 

“Promise?” Peter wanted to make sure. 

“We promise, baby.” Both parents said at the same time then waited for Peter to start explaining what was going on in his mind to them. 

Tony was scared but he knew it needed to be done. It was the only way they could help Peter. 

“I’ve just been thinking, and like, I don’t mean to or-or want to but I do and I hate it but-but sometimes I think about… him and-and if-what my life would be like if I never left or if I never found out he wasn’t my actual dad and I wasn’t lied to my whole life.” Peter explained and then sucked in a shaky breath because he wasn’t done yet. 

“And-and sometimes I think about if he still loves me or if he misses me and what he’s doing right now and-and… ugh!” Peter groaned and threw his head back. He knew what he was thinking but he didn’t know how to put it into words. 

Tony knew Peter struggled a lot with using words. He always had and that’s why he punches or kicks at his siblings when he’s angry. “Take a breath and think about what you’re trying to say, buddy. No one is rushing you.” 

Peter groaned again. “Why can’t you just know? It’s too… too hard for me.” 

“I don’t know what’s going on in your mind so you have to use your words. Do you need help?” Tony slowly asked and Peter nodded. “Okay. Tell me what you’re trying to say and I’ll help you.” 

“I’m trying to say that-that… that I think about if I love Steve but I don’t because he kidnapped me and lied to me.” 

“But you didn’t know that at the time so you loved him?” Tony finished Peter’s sentence for him. 

Peter nodded. “Yeah and if I didn’t know at the time, and if I never found out then I would love him always and I wouldn’t love you or mom or Morgan or Harley or Aiser because I wouldn’t even know that you guys existed so I would only love Steve. And I don’t like that because it scares me.” 

Tony felt like a million pounds had been lifted off his shoulders. Even though Peter was still hurting, he now knew why so he could help him. 

“Those are reasonable thoughts and it’s okay to have thoughts like that. It’s your mind's way of still coping with what happened to you.” Tony told him slowly, remembering what their old therapist told him to say to Peter about his worries and thoughts. 

“They’re stupid. And I don’t like them.” 

“They’re not stupid, Peter. Those are your thoughts and I know it was really hard for you to tell your dad and I but we are so glad that you did so we can help you now.” Pepper ran her fingers through his hair so he leaned against her and turned his face into her neck then started crying. “Oh baby.” 

“I-I don’t want to not know you. I-I like having a mom.” Peter cried out which had Pepper crying as well and Tony moving closer so he could rub at Peter’s back. 

“Oh baby. It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re never going to leave us and we’re never leaving you, baby. I know these thoughts are scary and I don’t like them either but you have to come talk to us when you feel this way. So we can help you, okay?” 

Peter nodded into Pepper’s neck. “Okay. 

Tony hated that Peter was hurting but still was a good thing. It meant that Peter was healing after two weeks of complete hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is everyone? How was everyone’s week? 
> 
> Mine was good, long, a few moments I wanted to cry and run away from my life but it’s Friday night! Finally!


	5. I’m trying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m done work forever now so I’m so excited to write all the time!! 
> 
> WARNING: mentions of implied rape in this chapter. Nothing happened or anything but I’m just putting the warning in here

Tony was already seeing a huge improvement in Peter. 

After that long overdue talk they had a week ago, and the well needed crying session, Tony had helped Peter go to bed and he fell asleep within thirty minutes with no crying. 

That night, Tony was too excited to sleep himself. He kept waiting for Peter to wake up throughout the night but he didn’t and stayed home the next day to have some more one on one time with his parents. 

Now, Peter was putting himself to sleep and staying asleep. The bedwetting stopped which had both parents over the moon. 

Tony had no idea how one assignment could completely break Peter down. As for the assignment, Tony had Peter rip it up and throw it out. 

It definitely felt good for all of them. 

Now, he was getting ready to drop Peter off at school and Tony was feeling a bit hesitant. He could tell Peter was feeling the same way but Tony didn’t want him to worry about anything. 

School was supposed to be a safe and happy place for Peter to spend time with his friends and learn and Tony didn’t want him to feel scared to go. 

He pulled up to the front of the school and looked over at Peter in the passenger seat. “Call me if you need me and I’ll come. I’m not doing anything today so don’t feel like you can’t call.” 

Even if Tony was busy, Peter was always his top priority. 

Peter knew that. 

“I’m fine, dad. I have a biochemistry test today.” Peter was excited for that. Harley always teased him for being excited about school and taking tests but Peter took pride in it after Tony told him he was the same way. 

“Alright, baby. Good luck but I know you don’t need it. I’ll see you after school.” 

Peter leaned over to give his dad a hug and a kiss goodbye but he held on a little tighter, letting the hug linger on. He didn’t think he would ever get rid of his separation anxiety. 

He had it with his whole family. Mostly his dad. He went absolutely mental if his dad ever had to leave for a business trip which became very rare for that reason. 

“I love you. Be good.” Tony ruffled his hair and watched Peter open the door to leave. Part of him, the selfish and overprotective dad side of him, wanted Peter to turn around and run back into the car but he knew that wasn’t fair. 

Peter didn’t look back. 

He knew if he turned around and saw the car getting further and further away with each step he took then he would break and run back into his dad’s arms so he didn’t look back. 

He walked into the front doors of the school and heavily sighed. 

He only missed a few days of school but everything felt so different. 

It was like it was his first day of high school all over again and he hated that. 

When he was in elementary school, he didn’t really worry about what people thought or knew about him. About his past. 

Now, high school was way different. He always felt like everyone knew about his past and always talked about him. Maybe that was the truth. Maybe people actually did talk about him a lot, it wasn’t a hidden secret that he was kidnapped and raised by another man his entire childhood. 

If someone followed the news, they knew who Peter Stark was. Also the son of billionaire Tony Stark. 

Peter kept his head up high as he walked to his locker. He hoped to bump into one of his friends on the way there but he didn’t which wasn’t a surprise. His locker was on the third floor which was where the grade twelves had their lockers since Peter was in a grade twelve biochemistry class. 

It was probably one of his favourite classes since all the grade twelves didn’t look at him the way the grade nines did. Plus they were really funny and made him feel safe. 

Peter walked into his class and climbed onto the stool at the front where his seat was. He pulled out his pencil and waited for the bell to ring. 

“Hey, Peter. Where were you yesterday?” 

Peter turned around to face one of the grade twelve students who he considered his friend. She had long brown hair that she always wore up in a tight ponytail and her eyelashes were extremely long. Apparently they were fake. Peter didn’t understand but she told him when he asked. 

“I stayed at home with my dad.” He told her then fully turned around to face her. “Me and Morgan ended up building a fort in the living room too.” 

She smiled at him. “I’m sure your parents liked that.” 

Peter thought back to last night. His parents didn’t mind him building forts as long as they cleaned up after but all Peter had to do was give his dad his puppy dog eyes and Tony gave in. 

“They like it.” Peter went to ask her what else he missed but the bell was ringing and the teacher walked in. 

“I hope you guys have been studying all day and all night because this test is worth fifteen percent of your grade. Phones and books away and we’ll begin in five minutes.” Mr. Moore had said as he got all his stuff organized. 

Peter turned around to face the front and swung his legs in the stool. 

He liked Mr. Moore but was also a little scared of him. He had never yelled at him before but he yelled at one of the grade twelve students for cheating on a test and it almost made Peter cry. 

Peter sat up on his knees and leaned forward on the lab desk while his teacher handed out the tests to everyone. He had the same test as everyone else but it was worded slightly different for him to be at his reading level. 

“If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me, Peter.” His teacher smiled at him then spoke up to the rest of the class. “As for the rest of you, no questions. You have ninety minutes.” 

Peter picked up his pencil and got to work. 

His dad helped him study last night before dinner but now he felt like all that was going out the window. He was never nervous for tests so he didn’t know why he was now. 

He tried to concentrate on the first question but he didn’t know what it was asking him. He looked up at his teacher who was looking at him and he felt his thumb nearing his mouth again so he quickly moved his hand down and turned around to see if anyone else was stuck on a question. 

“Is everything okay, Peter?” His teacher asked him, taking off his glasses to look at him more intently. 

Peter wanted to lie and say that he was fine but he wasn’t. He was suddenly feeling really anxious and he needed to calm down. “Uh… I-I need to go pee.” 

His teacher nodded. “Alright. You can go.” 

Peter slid off his stool and walked out of the classroom, racing down the hallway towards the bathroom. Before he even walked in, he was pulling out his phone and calling his dad. 

He needed to hear his voice. 

“Hey, buddy. Is everything okay?” Tony answered on the second ring and Peter felt instantly better. 

He leaned his head against the bathroom wall, not caring that there was probably pee on it. “Y-yeah. I just needed to hear your voice.” 

“Alright. Well, I’m just cleaning the house. Nothing interesting going on here.” Tony paused when Peter didn’t say anything. “Are you in class?” 

Peter shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “No. I Uh… I’m in the bathroom.” 

Tony didn’t like the sounds of that. “Do you need me to pick you up-” 

“No. No, I didn’t… I’m fine. I just wanted to hear your voice. I’m fine now. I’ll see you after school.” Peter rushed out and then hung up the phone. He needed to hear his dads voice but if he talked to him for too long then he wouldn’t be able to hang out the phone so he had to do it fast. 

Peter looked at himself in the dirty mirror and sighed. He looked a lot better than he did last time he was in school since he no longer had huge under eye circles after getting a full nine hours of sleep for the past few nights in a row now. 

He rubbed at his eyes and left the bathroom to finish his test. He could do this. 

.  
.  
.

Peter stared at his phone, pretending to text someone while he waited for Ned at his locker. 

Ned’s locker was on the first floor which meant Peter was stuck waiting for him with a bunch of other grade nines staring at him. He felt extremely uncomfortable but he was used to it. 

That didn’t mean it was any harder to block it out. 

When he looked up and finally saw Ned walking towards him, Peter’s face broke out into a big smile. “Hi, Ned. Oh my gosh, so today in biochemistry class I had a test and I studied all last night with my dad but it was so hard.” 

Ned stuck his hand out so they could do their handshake. “You’re so good at biochemistry so I know you passed. Don’t worry about it.” 

Peter smiled. “Thanks. I think I get that from my dad-” 

Someone bumped into Peter’s shoulder, almost knocking him off his feet. “Hey.” He caught his balance and eyed the guy who just bumped into him on purpose. 

“Watch it, loser. Why don’t you go back home to daddy? Oh wait, you don’t even know who your dad is.” The kid said, Peter didn’t even know his name or who he was and then the group of boys behind him were laughing. 

Peter felt his eyes burn with unshed tears but he refused to cry in front of them. He didn’t want to give them that satisfaction. He grabbed Ned’s arm to leave but Ned didn’t move. 

“Don’t talk to him that way. We don’t even know who you are so stop obsessing over Peter and go obsess over that giant pimple on your forehead that’s talking to me right now.” Ned lashed out, pointing to the giant white head pimple that was ready to burst at any second. 

Peter pulled Ned’s arm. “Ned, please. Let’s just go.” 

Ned relented this time and let Peter pull him along. “Alright. Fine. Don’t listen to them, Peter. They’re just stupid.” 

Peter nodded. He was used to it. 

Peter swung his backpack over his other shoulder and pushed open the door to head down to the cafeteria but Ned grabbed his arm. “Wait. Wanna go out for lunch?” 

Peter hesitated. He’s never gone out for lunch before. He only went out once but that was when his dad picked up both him and Ned. 

“Uh… I don’t know.” 

“C’mon. My friend knows this guy who’s friends with the owner of some pizza place and he says it’s super good. It’s just like, three blocks away so we can be back before third period.” Ned tried to use his own puppy dog eyes on Peter but it never worked. Ned needed to work on that. 

Peter felt guilty already that he was thinking about it. 

He thought back to when Harley was in high school and how he went out for lunch almost every single day and never had to ask. His parents sat him down and told Peter that he always had to tell them where he was going. Peter knew that was only because of what happened to him and he normally wouldn’t care about his parents being overprotective of him but now he did care and he didn’t like it. 

“Fine. But we have to come straight back to school. You know I’m not allowed.” Peter looked at Ned to make sure his best friend knew he was being serious. 

The walk there was quick. Peter was feeling guilty and anxious for the first few minutes but after they were walking for a bit, he started to feel a lot better. 

They began talking about the latest StarWars lego set that they were going to build this weekend when Peter’s attention fell onto something else. 

He spotted a dark blue car in a parking lot of one of the plazas and he could have sworn that he saw the same car in the parking lot of his school because it had the same sticker on the back. 

Peter tried not to think anything of it. He knew he was paranoid and usually he didn’t have to worry about anything because his parents did that all for him but they wanted him to always be aware of his surroundings and not to be too trusting but his dad had told him that he was extremely gullible and apparently that was a dangerous thing. 

They turned the corner and he lost sight of the car so he put it out of his mind and walked into the store with Ned. 

“Supposedly you can ask for like triple cheese here.” Ned practically drooled over the counter at the food but Peter didn’t have much of an appetite. 

“Cool.” He shoved his hands in his pocket and went to take a step back but he bumped into someone. “Oops. Sorry.” 

“It’s fine, kid.” 

Peter turned and looked up at the man. He seemed oddly familiar but he couldn’t figure out where he knew the man from. He gave him a weak smile since the older man was staring at him and making him feel uncomfortable so he looked down and moved closer to Ned’s side. 

Once they got their food, they sat at a table near the window and Peter pulled out his phone, debating if he should text his dad about where he was but he wanted to be like Harley. He didn’t want to have to tell his parents everything… even if he liked to.

“Hmm. This is so good. It kinda reminds me of that one place we used to go to with…” Ned looked up at Peter once he realized what he was about to say and he stopped. “Oops. Sorry.” 

Peter shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about Steve but he knew that he had a lot of memories with Ned that involved the man so he was bound to be brought up at times. 

“It’s fine. And I know what place you’re talking about.” Peter took a bite of his pizza. “I heard that place shut down because they found like a bunch of dead rats in the freezer.” 

“Gross.” 

Peter nodded and went to take another bite but the same man from before was standing at their table and smiling down at Peter. “Would you hand me the ketchup bottle please? My table doesn’t seem to have one.” 

Peter handed the bottle of ketchup to the man without a word. He felt like he knew him. Like really knew him but he couldn’t place his finger on it. 

Once the man had the bottle, he nodded at Peter and walked across the restaurant to a table. 

Peter watched him. The man didn’t look over at them again and went onto his phone while he ate so Peter slowly forgot about him and continued eating and talking with Ned. 

“Did you even ask your parents yet?” Ned asked him, shoving his last bite into his mouth. 

“I will. I told you I would.” Peter shrugged. He was never good at sleepovers. He got too anxious and had to call his dad to come pick him up but he was too old for that now, right? 

Ned would probably laugh at him if he had to leave at midnight because he couldn’t be without his parents overnight. He just didn’t know how to tell Ned. 

“Just ask them. My mom said you can sleep over this Friday so ask tonight and let me know.” They both stood up and threw out their garbage so they could leave. 

“Well… I don’t know if I can this weekend because Harley is coming back down from college so I want to spend time with him.” It wasn’t a lie. Just that Harley was coming down next week and not this weekend. 

“Fine.” Ned sighed and Peter felt bad. He hated when Ned made him feel guilty but Peter guessed it was his fault for not telling Ned what he was going through. 

When they opened the doors to go outside, Peter felt all the breath leave his lungs. 

In the parking lot of the store was the same dark blue car with the sticker on the back. Peter felt frozen in his path. 

He heard that Ned was talking to him but he couldn’t focus on what he was saying. He walked away from the car, not looking back. “Let’s just get back to school fast.” 

“What is it?” Ned asked, running to catch up with Peter. 

Peter shuttered. “Nothing. I’m just worried we’re gonna be late.” 

They began walking back to the school in silence. 

Ned tried to start a conversation with Peter but he ignored him for the most part. Just wanting to walk into the school and feel safe. 

Maybe he should just call his dad. He knew his dad wouldn’t be mad at him. He promised he never would be for anything and if he seemed upset, it was only because he was worried but Peter was fourteen now. He could handle it by himself. 

They were almost at the school, Peter could see it up ahead but he heard a car pulling up beside the sidewalk so he looked back and spotted the dark blue car. 

He felt frozen with fear. Were they being followed? Of course it was because of him and not because of Ned. 

Ned stopped and turned to look at the man that was getting out of the car. “Do you know him?” 

Peter didn’t say anything but he recognized him. It was the same man from the pizza place. 

“Hey boys. I’m sorry to bug you but I’m new to the area and I seem to be lost. Do you know where fifth street is by any chance?” The man asked, walking closer to them. Even though he was talking to both of them, he was only looking at Peter. 

“Uhh… I think it’s that way.” Ned pointed in the opposite direction of their school but the man continued to stare at Peter. 

Peter stared back. 

“Are you sure? My GPS might be broken then.” He laughed and it sent shivers down Peter’s spine. 

“I’m not sure. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m new here too.” Ned shrugged and turned to start walking again so Peter followed him, taking his eyes off the man and trying to calm his breathing. “Anyways, what were we talking about?” 

Peter still remained silent. 

“Peter? Hello? Are you okay?” Ned grabbed his arm so Peter looked at his best friend and forced a smile. 

“Y-yeah. I’m okay. I just want to get back.” Peter picked up his pace and looked behind him. The car was gone but that didn’t make him feel any better. 

Peter tried to forget about what happened but it was hard to put it out of his mind. 

He just wanted to go home now but he still had two more classes left. He was glad that one of his classes was with Ned. He wasn’t happy that that class was gym though. 

They grabbed their change of clothes from their lockers and walked into the gym changing room where most of their class already was. 

Peter took a seat on the bench and kicked his shoes off. “I’m so tired. I wish this was the last class.” 

Ned agreed, kicking his own shoes off. “Same. My mom said she’s making lasagna for dinner so I’m excited for that.” 

Peter didn’t know what his mom was making. He sometimes helped her after school just to spend some extra time with her without Morgan taking her attention away from them. He felt the need to cling onto his mom for the rest of the night so he was probably going to ask to sleep with his parents tonight or crawl into their bed in the middle of the night. 

He stood up to take off his pants and his shirt but hesitated when he heard some of the boys in his class whispering. He always immediately thought it was about him but this time he knew it was because he heard his name. 

He roughly grabbed his shorts from his bag and put it on then put his shirt on and shoved himself down onto the bench. 

One of the boys that Peter hated so much and wanted to punch his face just from looking at him, was giggling and walking towards him. 

Peter looked up at him, giving the boy a dirty look. He knew the boy was a whole year older than him since he failed grade nine last year by not showing up. No wonder all the other grade nines idolized him. 

“Hey, Petey.” He said and Peter’s blood ran cold. 

“Don’t call me that.” Peter clenched his fists, feeling his nails dig into his palm. 

“Why not? Don’t you like it?” The boy asked, teasing him. “Was it because he called you that?” 

Peter felt Ned appearing at his side again and the whole change room went quiet. All of the attention was on him. 

“Shut up. You don’t know anything.” Peter hissed back. He clenched his fists tighter and tried to breathe but he couldn’t. 

Peter saw a flash of anger rush across the boys face at what Peter said. He narrowed his eyebrows. “What did he do to you all those years? Did he like chain you to the basement so you couldn’t leave the house? And force you to eat out of a dog bowl?” 

The boy laughed at what he said and then he was gasping with amusement. “Did he rape you? Is that why you’re so messed up?” 

Peter felt his heart drop and all the colour leave his face. He was never raped. Steve never laid a hand on him like that… he never did. It wasn’t like that. 

The boy saw that he hit a soft spot so he continued. “He did, didn’t he? How did it feel-” 

Before the boy could finish, Peter was lunging himself at the other boy, falling on top of him and straddling his hips. He threw a punch at the boys face but before he could throw another punch, someone was lifting him up and pulling him off. 

“What the hell is going on?!” His teacher, Mr. Wilson, asked, still holding Peter back. 

Peter felt his whole body shaking. 

He didn’t know what he just did. He didn’t even think. He just did it and the boy was still lying on the ground and holding his bloody nose. 

Peter tried to turn away but his teacher was holding him against his chest. He wiped desperately at his eyes, trying so hard not to cry right now. 

He wanted his dad. 

He needed his dad. 

“Peter Stark. What the hell did you do?” His teacher asked, turning Peter’s body to face him but Peter looked over his shoulder and whimpered. His teacher gave a sigh and turned to look at Ned. “Take him to the office.” 

“But Peter didn’t do anything wrong, Mr. Wilson! It’s all Flash’s fault!” Ned tried to defend Peter and looked over at Flash who was still lying on the floor and holding onto his most likely broken nose. “Maybe it’s because he failed grade nine the first time and that’s why he’s so stupid!” 

“Ned! Take Peter to the office and come right back.” His teacher ordered again so Ned grabbed Peter’s arm and led him out of the change room and down the hall. 

“That was sick, dude. He didn’t even see it coming.” Ned tried to praise him but Peter felt awful. 

Peter tried to hold in his tears. He didn’t say anything until he noticed that he didn’t have his stuff meaning he didn’t have his phone to call his dad. “I don’t have my phone and I-I need to call my dad.” 

“Okay. I’ll go get it for you.” Ned opened up the office door to let Peter walk in and then he was walking away. 

Peter stood there awkwardly. He needed so badly to cry but he didn’t want to. 

“Peter. Please follow me while we call your parents and wait for them to come.” His principal said so Peter continued to stare at the floor as he followed the man into a room. “Take a seat for the nurse to check you over.” 

Peter looked up and saw that he was sitting in the nurse's office. He’s been there plenty of times before. Once when he had a panic attack so bad that he wet his pants and all the other times was when he didn’t feel good so he laid down until his parents picked him up. 

He climbed up onto the bed and looked down as the nurse put gloves on and stood in front of him. “Does your hand hurt?” 

Peter shrugged. It burned. He didn’t really care though. He just wanted his dad. 

“I’m going to rub it with the rubbing alcohol so it’ll sting a bit.” She explained to him before cleaning up his knuckles. The whole process took about five minutes then she was leaving him. 

Peter heard the door open so he looked up at it eagerly, wanting it to be his dad but it was his principal so he looked back down at his lap. 

“Peter, can you tell me what happened? Why did you punch him? Did he say something to you?” His principal tried to get it out of him but Peter wasn’t going to talk. 

He was scared that if he did, his voice would break and he wouldn’t be able to stop crying. 

“Can you come sit on this chair?” He asked so Peter slowly slid off the bed and went to go sit on the chair while his principal stood over him with his arms crossed. 

Peter continued to stare at his lap. 

He heard the door open again so he snapped his head up and saw his dad walking into the room. He felt himself break but he held it in a little bit longer. 

Tony kneeled down in front of his chair and placed his hands on Peter’s knees. “What happened, Peter? Are you hurt?” 

Peter continued to stare down at his lap. 

“He hasn’t spoken since he came in.” His principal explained to Tony. 

Tony ignored him. He tilted Peter’s chin up to look at him and his heart broke at the tears in Peter’s eyes. “Baby.” 

That was all it took for Peter to completely break. He sobbed out and fell forward into his dad’s arms, letting his dad catch him and wrap him in a hug where he felt safest. 

Peter sobbed violently into his neck so Tony rubbed at his back. “Oh Peter. What happened? Tell me. I promise I won’t be mad.” 

Peter didn’t want to tell his dad because he didn’t fully understand what it meant but he had an idea and he knew it wasn’t a good thing. “I-I didn’ mean to! He-he just made me so mad.” 

Tony nodded, encouraging Peter to continue. “Who, baby? What did he say?” 

Peter choked on his crying so Tony turned around to look at the principal. “Give us a minute.” 

Once they were alone, Tony stood up and lifted Peter into his arms, letting his child cling onto him. “Just breathe. It’s okay. It’s okay, Peter.” 

Peter cried harder into his neck and then tried to speak. “I-I just… I was changing in gym and-and one of the other boys said that-that…” Peter broke off into more sobs so Tony took a seat on the chair and stood Peter up between his legs, still holding him close. 

“You can tell me. What did he say, baby?” Tony knew it was bad. If it got Peter this worked up. He didn’t know much, he just knew that Peter got into a fight at school. He could see the broken skin on his left fist and there was no bruising or marks on Peter’s face or anywhere on his body that Tony could see so he assumed Peter only punched the boy. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “He-he said that S-Steve r-raped me. But he didn’t. He didn’t.” 

Tony saw red. 

That was always a fear of his while Peter was kidnapped. That someone was taking advantage of his son like that. Then when he found out his son was kept by the same man for seven years, it wasn’t until a few days after they got Peter back where he was positive that that man didn’t rape his kid. 

Now some bastard was saying that Peter was raped by his kidnapper to his face. Tony felt sick. 

He didn’t blame Peter for punching the kid. 

“It’s okay. I know he didn’t do that to you, baby, and you know he didn’t. That boy was just being a,” fucking ass hole “horrible kid.” 

Peter nodded and rubbed at his eyes. “I k-know. I still didn’t like it and-and I didn’t mean to punch him but-but I did. I’m sorry.” 

Tony pulled Peter back to hold him firmly and look him in the eyes. “Don’t be sorry. That boy had no right to say that to you and there will be serious consequences for him. Don’t ever say sorry for what you did.” 

“But… I hurt him.” Peter thought back to Flash lying on the floor and holding his bloody nose. “I think I broke his nose.” 

“What he said to you was cruel and unfair. I don’t want you to think that hitting is ever okay and I don’t want you to make a habit out of it but I’m glad you hit this guy.” Tony hoped he wasn’t being a bad parent for saying that but whoever this kid was definitely deserved it. 

Peter’s self defence classes he took a few years ago and all the times he play fought with Morgan were definitely paying off. 

Peter nodded. There was a knock at the door so Tony told them to come in and it was the principal handing Peter’s bag to him with his clothes. 

Tony thanked him and looked back at Peter. “Change and then we’re going home.” 

Peter took his clothes from his dad but hesitated. “Does mom know?” 

“I told her your school called me to pick you up. I didn’t say why.” Tony waited for Peter to take off his clothes so he could scan his body for any other injuries or bruising but Peter didn’t make any move to take his clothes off. 

“Can… can you not tell her? I don’t want her to know.” Peter knew it was a long shot but his dad has kept other secrets for him. Like that one time he spilt her makeup or broke the picture frame. 

Tony sighed. “Baby, I have to tell her. If you want I can tell her separately then we can talk to you later.” 

Peter stomped his foot. “But I don’t want her to know. I don’t want her to be mad at me. And-and you already talked to me. Why are you talking to me again later?” 

“Because it needs to be talked about with your mother and not in a nurses office at your school.” Tony explained to him then tugged on Peter’s shirt so he got the hint and took it off. “C’mon.” 

Peter took his gym shirt off and then his shorts. “I don’t wanna go home after this. Can we go get ice cream?” 

Tony quickly looked over Peter’s body, feeling a lot better since he didn’t see any marks on him. “Not today. Let’s just go home and we’ll decide what we do there.” 

Peter didn’t say anything. He put on his clothes and thought about what he did. He still felt extremely guilty but he also felt kinda good. What Flash said to him was rude. He deserved it. 

Tony grabbed his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. He opened up the door to leave but Peter stopped. “Will I get expelled? I don’t want to. I like it here.” 

“You’re not getting expelled but I’ll talk with your teacher and principal tomorrow. Let’s just go home.” Tony gave a reassuring squeeze to the back of Peter’s neck and gently pushed him to start walking. 

He just wanted to get the hell home and hoped he didn’t spot a kid with a potential broken nose because he didn’t think he would be able to control himself if he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys have any guesses as to who the guy is? 
> 
> I feel so relieved I’m done with work because I woke up every single morning and wishing the day away and that’s no way to live life! I’m done now! 
> 
> Also idkkk why the end notes keeps popping up at the end, I’ll try to fix it. It’s happened to me before and I thought I fixed it but I guess not


	6. I wanna live my life my way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that I’m off work, I’m going to try and post this fic more often:)

Peter immediately ran upstairs to go shower. 

He didn’t want to face his mom and the disappointed look that she gave him when he was bad so he decided that when he saw her he was going to pull out the puppy dog eyes and cling onto her like he knew she loved so much and didn’t get much of since he also preferred his dad when it came to cuddles. 

He still loved his mom but his dad’s arms were bigger and stronger and his chest was more comfortable. Plus Tony had a magic touch. He always manoeuvred his body so he was most comfortable on the man. 

Peter was nervous. 

He didn’t know how his mom was going to react. 

Maybe she was going to hate him? He hoped not. God, he hoped not. 

Tony was telling her now so he was going to hide in the bathroom for as long as possible. 

Once he was finished with his prolonged shower, Peter knew he couldn’t hide in there forever so he dried himself off and dashed into his bedroom to put on his StarWars pyjamas. 

He then swallowed and slowly walked into his parents bedroom with his head down. He lazily chewed on his thumb and looked up at his mom through his eyelashes. “Are you mad at me?” 

Pepper sighed. She was disappointed but not mad. “Come here, Pete.” 

Peter didn’t hesitate to quickly climb onto the bed and crawl across it until he was pressed up against his mom's side with his head on her chest. He heavily sighed. “I’m sorry.” 

She shushed him and ran her fingers through his baby hair. “I’m not mad at you but I still want you to know that what you did was not okay, baby. Fighting is never the answer.” 

Peter nodded against her and wrapped his free arm around her stomach. 

“Your dad told me what that boy said and that wasn’t very nice of him. Some people can be cruel but that’s only because they have a messed up life themselves and they take it out on good people.” Pepper continued to run her fingers through Peter’s hair. He shut his eyes. 

She gently pulled his thumb away from his mouth before it entered. 

“Sorry.” Peter blushed. He didn’t even know he was doing it sometimes. He woke up a few mornings with his thumb wet but he didn’t tell his parents he was probably back to sucking his thumb in his sleep. 

“It’s okay.” She smiled down at her baby. “Do you wanna stay here for a bit or go downstairs?” 

Peter thought about it. He was really comfortable in his mom's arms. “Stay here. What time is it?” 

Tony spoke up from beside them. “1:30. You can take a nap if you want. Mom can wake you in two hours.” 

Peter shook his head. He didn’t want to try and sleep right now. “No. I’m good.” 

He stretched his legs out and put one leg over his mom to get more comfortable. “Can we watch tv in here?” 

Pepper nodded. “Of course, baby. Just relax.” 

.  
.  
.

Peter was counting down the hours until he went to bed. 

He was exhausted. He fell asleep for about twenty minutes in his mom's arms but he woke himself up for no reason. Now, he really wished he stayed asleep. 

On top of everything else, Morgan was being annoying. 

“Dad. Tell her to leave me alone.” Peter ran into the kitchen and climbed on top of the kitchen counter to sit so he could watch his mom cook dinner. He felt like he was going to cry if Morgan didn’t stop annoying him and Tony saw that. 

“Hey, stop means stop. Leave your brother alone and go entertain yourself.” Tony grabbed the bubble gun from Morgan and pointed towards the living room. 

“Fine. He’s no fun anyways.” Morgan said then turned to walk away. 

Peter rolled his eyes and pulled his knees to his chest. “Can I help you cook, mom?” 

Pepper handed him a cutting board and a knife. “Be careful. Cut these into small slices.” 

Peter grabbed the carrot and took a bite with a smirk while he looked at his mom. “Yumm!” 

“You bugger.” She pinched his stomach and fondly shook her head. “C’mon. Chop chop.” 

Once dinner was made, Peter helped Pepper set the table and made sure that his plate was next to his moms but after he grabbed his juice and came back to the living room to see Morgan sitting in his spot, he walked up to her. 

“Move. I’m sitting there.” 

Morgan shrugged. “Clearly I am.” 

Peter groaned and pointed to his favourite cup. “No. See? I put that there so _move_.” 

Morgan picked up Peter’s cup and placed it in the opposite seat so Peter wiped desperately at his eyes. He grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the seat but then Morgan was screaming and hitting Peter in the arm which had Peter screaming.

Tony grabbed Peter and roughly sat him in the seat. “You do not pull your sister like that. And Morgan, you do not hit your brother. He picked this seat so you can sit in another seat.” 

Peter wasn’t in the mood anymore but Pepper walked into the dining room so he patted the seat next to him. “Sit with me. Please. Don’t sit next to Morgan.” 

Pepper smiled and took a seat next to her youngest son. It wasn’t uncommon that Peter would switch between the two of them. He would have phases where he preferred his mom over his dad but nine times out of ten it was always Tony. 

Peter took a sip of juice from his cup and rubbed at his eyes. He was exhausted but didn’t want to show it yet since he didn’t want to look like a baby and get sent to bed before his little sister did. 

“Today at recess,” Morgan took a bite of her dinner and continued. “me and Allison built a fort in the forest. It was so cool.” 

Peter missed elementary school. He was so nervous to go to high school after hearing such intimidating stories about it. He would love to go back in time and have recess again. 

“Why were you guys in the forest?” Tony asked. The teachers shouldn’t be letting the students play in the forest. That was dangerous. 

Morgan shrugged. “Because it’s fun and we build our forts in there…” 

Peter stopped listening to the conversation. 

He thought about his day and what happened at lunch time. He still felt guilty about leaving school without his parents permission and he didn’t plan on even telling them but after everything else that happened today, he knew he wasn’t going to get to fall asleep if he didn’t tell them. 

“I went out for lunch today with Ned.” Peter said, looking down at his plate. All the conversation stopped to focus on him. “I know I’m not allowed but… Ned really wanted to. And-and Harley always went out for lunch.” 

Tony unclenched his fists. That was the number one rule they had. Peter must never ever leave the school without asking permission first. Never. 

“You know you’re not allowed to do that.” He said, putting his fork down. “Why would you even think about that?” 

Peter simply shrugged. “Because I wanted to. A lot of other students do it. I just wanted to be like them and not to have to ask my _mom_ and _dad_ all the time.” 

Tony chuckled but nothing was funny about this. “Don’t compare yourself to anyone else, Peter. It’s not healthy and it doesn’t benefit anyone. Especially not you.” Tony sighed. “You know you have different rules than other kids have, sometimes even Harley and Morgan and I know it sometimes-”

Peter didn’t care to listen anymore so he interrupted his dad. “There was this car there and I think he was following me.” 

That had everyone at the table freezing and losing all the colour in their faces. 

“What?” Pepper asked, turning to fully face Peter. 

Peter looked up at his mom then looked away. 

“What do you mean, Peter? Someone was following you?” Tony tried to remain calm. He couldn’t freak out right now since he didn’t even know if it was necessary to do yet. 

“Well… there was this car in my school parking lot and then me and Ned started walking and I saw it in another parking lot and I thought I saw someone watching me but we kept walking and then Uh, then we got to the pizza place and I bumped into this old looking guy who was smiling at me all weird then-then later he came up to our table and asked for the ketchup but then as we, when we were leaving, I saw the same car out in the front and I didn’t say anything to Ned but I was a little scared and then-then when we were walking, the same car pulled up next to us and got out of the car to ask us for directions and it was the same guy from the restaurant.” Peter didn’t want to look at his parents' faces but as he was explaining to them what happened, he was starting to freak out again. He really messed up. 

Tony stood up to grab his phone off the kitchen counter. “Why didn’t you _call_ me, Peter?” 

This was not good. This couldn’t be some coincidence. 

Peter turned in his chair to look at his dad. “I don’t know! I’m sorry! I-I didn’t- I thought it was nothing.” 

Peter turned to look at his mom and she looked scared as well. “Mom? What is it?” 

Morgan got off her chair to run into the kitchen after her dad. “Daddy! What’s wrong? Are the bad men coming to take Peter again?” 

Peter felt his heart fall into his stomach at those words. _The bad men were coming. They were coming to take him away and he wasn’t going to ever see his family again_. No. 

“Stop it!” Peter yelled, tears falling down his cheeks. “You’re scaring me.” 

Pepper pulled Peter against her chest. “Just breathe, baby. It’s okay.” 

Peter pushed away from Pepper. “No! I’m sorry! I-I knew I shouldn’t have gone. I’m sorry. I-I’m _sorry_.” 

Tony finished with his phone call to Natasha. He hasn’t spoken to her in almost two months and the longer they go without speaking is always a good thing but now she is going to be coming over again. 

Peter wiped desperately at his eyes. “Dad! I’m sorry! I’m sorry. Please!” 

Tony knows what’s done is done. Peter disobeyed them and made a mistake and they can’t go back and change that now so he wasn’t going to hate Peter for it. 

He walked back into the dining room and pulled Peter off the chair to hug him tightly in his arms. “It’s okay, baby. Shhh. It’s okay.” 

It didn’t take Natasha long to arrive. She always came within minutes when it was needed. 

Peter couldn’t stop crying. He hated that he hated Ned for making him go. 

He was sitting on the couch between his parents with Natasha sitting in front of them, a position he’s been in all too many times. 

“Can you tell me what the car looked like, Peter?” Natasha asked, writing everything down. 

Peter tried to think back. “It was blue. Dark blue with a lot of rust and-and it had a sticker on the back. That’s how I knew it was the same car.” 

“What did the sticker say? Do you remember?” Natasha asked him patiently. 

Peter shut his eyes to try and think. “Uhhh… something about imagination is more important than knowledge.” 

Natasha wrote that down. “Good. Can you tell me what he looked like?” 

Peter shook his head and leaned against his dad. He was horrible with faces. He couldn’t remember anyone’s faces after just seeing them once or twice. “I don’t know.” 

“That’s okay. Take your time. Was he young or older?” Natasha asked but Tony had to rephrase that question because young to Peter is a baby and old is a sixteen year old. 

“Was he like Harley’s age or my age? Maybe older than me?” Tony asked him, rubbing at Peter’s arm to encourage him. 

Peter groaned. “Ummm… older than you. Maybe he was your age. He had Umm… black hair and… lots of hair on his face. I don’t know what else.” 

Natasha wrote that down. “What did he say to you?” 

Peter thought about it. “Nothing. I just bumped into him and said sorry and he said it’s okay kid and then he asked for ketchup and then later he asked where fifth street was and that his GPS was broken.” 

“That’s not nothing, baby.” Pepper rubbed his arm. “That’s a lot of conversation between you two. He shouldn’t even have been talking to you at all. Especially not pulling his car over to talk to you.” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and buried his face in his dad's chest. “Please. I wanna go to bed. I-I wanna sleep with you and mom tonight. Please.” 

Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s hair. He had an extremely emotional day. “Okay, baby. I’ll take you up and you can sleep with us tonight.” 

Peter relaxed at that. 

He needed to be with his parents tonight. 

It took an hour for all three of them to be in bed. Natasha spoke with Pepper for a little bit longer then joined her boys in bed. 

Peter was latched onto Tony’s side so when Pepper walked into the room and climbed onto the bed, he turned over and held his hand out for her. “Are you guys mad at me? And don’t say you’re disappointed because that’s somehow worse.” 

Tony rubbed his stomach. “We’re worried. I told you that we would never be mad at you but we will be worried and sometimes, like this evening, our worry can look like anger but that’s just because we love you so much and want you to stay safe.” 

Peter chewed at his thumb. “I know. I just… I’m sorry.” 

Pepper reached out to pull his thumb away from his mouth. “Don’t do that.” 

“I want to.” Peter admitted quietly. He tried so hard for his thumb not to end up in his mouth but it was so hard sometimes. Especially lately. 

“I know, baby, but you don’t want to start that habit again.” Tony caressed his cheek. He’s gone to check on Peter in the middle of the night sometimes and found him with his thumb in his mouth. He told Pepper and they decided not to tell Peter since they were sure he did it in his sleep and didn’t even know. 

Peter turned into his dad’s chest. “Tickle my back.” 

Tony smiled and went to do just that until it eventually put Peter to sleep. Tony was too worried to sleep. His mind was racing way too much. 

He was just grateful Peter asked to sleep with them tonight so he didn’t have to pull Peter into their bed by himself just to have his baby close. 

.  
.  
.

Tony worked it out with the school. 

Peter was suspended for two days which basically gave him a four day weekend and Tony was already going to keep him home on Thursday and Friday so it worked out perfectly for them. 

Tony demanded that this Flash kid get charged with what he said to his kid but because the bastard child was underage, he was only suspended for five days. Not good enough for Tony but he would accept it. 

The parents also decided to keep Morgan home with Peter so they could relax and be with each other. Especially what happened on Wednesday. 

The Stark family needed it. The only person they were missing was Harley and he wasn’t coming until Wednesday of the next week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg guys ok first I just want to knock on wood do I don’t jinx myself buttt I never get pimples. Like i get a pimple very very rarely and I’m very glad for that, also since I have a bit of freckles on my cheeks it may hide some but I broke out on my forehead and I have never ever broken out before so I’m very concerned. I started thinking about like if I changed my diet or my daily routine and I can think of three things, I quit my job but that wouldn’t be in because it’s only benefiting me that I quit, I worked out yesterday but it wouldn’t be that either and then I figured it out. I went vegan about two weeks ago. Omg that’s why I’m breaking out, let me just tell you that I am not going to go vegan anymore but wow I can’t believe it actually made me break out sorry for this useless rant but I just figured it out and was like woah!!


	7. Running with the monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this fic so much!! It’s so much fun to write and there’s so many chapters I want you guys to read so badly!! 
> 
> WARNINGS: threatening of rape in this chapter. Nothing graphic and nothing happens but it’s there

Peter was feeling good. 

He was so excited since the week was halfway over and his older brother was going to be picking him up from school. 

He couldn’t wait. 

He was counting down the hours until he got to see his big brother which made time go by slower but it was okay because it would all be worth it once two o’clock hits and he can jump into Harley’s car after school. 

The last time he’s seen Harley was over two weeks ago when he threw a tantrum to try and get Harley to stay like he does every time Harley has to leave for school although this time Harley was going to be staying home for three whole months since his school was done. 

Peter could not wait. 

He grabbed his English text book and binder then shut his locker and went into his next class. He spotted his friend Atlas sitting in his seat so he took the seat next to him and smiled. “Hey.” 

Atlas smiled up at him. “Hey, Peter. Did you try the cookies in the caf today?” 

Peter pulled his books out of his bag as he answered. “No, why? Were they good?” 

Atlas chuckled. “No. They tasted like poo.” 

Peter laughed. He heard the bell ring and checked the time on the clock. Just one more class and then he was going to be able to see Harley and he couldn’t wait. 

Last night, Peter crawled into his parents bed again just to be close to them. He liked sleeping between them and they didn’t mind so he was probably going to do it again tonight, plus his dad promised him his favourite dinner that he was going to order in tonight for him. 

It was Harley’s favourite dinner as well so it was a win-win. 

Peter bounced his legs in his seat. He couldn’t sit still. He was just so excited. 

Class was almost halfway over so Peter started to work on all his homework so he didn’t have to do any tonight but then the phone was ringing and his teacher was looking at him. 

“Peter, someone is here to pick you up at the office. You can take your stuff and leave. I’ll see you tomorrow and make sure to finish chapters one and two.” His teacher gave him a warm smile that Peter returned. 

He quickly shoved all his stuff into his bag and skipped out of the class in his excitement. Harley must be here early and couldn’t wait to see him. Peter didn’t care. He missed his brother so much and couldn’t wait any longer to see him. 

He planned on play fighting with him when they got home. 

Peter walked into the office and looked for the familiar face but he couldn’t spot him. “Uh, my teacher said to come down because I’m leaving early.” 

The receptionist looked over at him and smiled. Peter didn’t recognize her so she must be new. “Are you Peter Stark?” Peter nodded. “He already signed you out and told you to meet him out front. We’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Peter thanked her and waved bye before he was skipping happily out of the school. 

He pushed open the front doors, wanting nothing more than to just run into Harley’s arms and tell him about everything but he didn’t spot his car. Peter frowned. 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket to see the text from Harley but there wasn’t any text. 

“Peter?” 

Peter snapped his head up at the unfamiliar voice. It was a tall man with sunglasses and a cap on. Peter took a step back. 

“You’re dad can’t pick you up. He told me to come so I’ll drive you home.” The man said and Peter felt his heart speed up. 

“Uh… I’ll just c-call him.” His hands were shaking. He turned to walk away but the man was grabbing his arm so Peter yanked it back. “Let me go.” 

“Peter, your dad is waiting for you. We have to go.” The man didn’t let go of his arm and that’s when Peter screamed. He didn’t know who this man was but he just knew that he had to get away so he threw himself onto the ground and dropped his phone in the process. 

“Let me go! Get off!” Peter tried to remember the self defence classes that him, Morgan and Harley took a few years ago. The only thing he could remember was that whoever is trying to grab him will be bigger and stronger so if he can’t fight back, throw himself to the ground and go deadweight so it’s harder for the person to pick him up. 

Peter does it to his dad all the time and his dad always complains that it’s impossible to pick him up when he does that while Peter laughed but now he wasn’t laughing, he was screaming. 

The man covered a hand over his mouth and picked him up easily, holding him against his side. He leaned down to pick up Peter’s phone and looked around for anyone but no one was there. 

Peter tried to scream harder but his mouth was being covered so he bit the hand as hard as he could which resulted in him being dropped onto the ground. 

The fourteen year old didn’t have time to think about it. 

He stood up on shaky legs and stumbled forward before he actually managed to turn and start running back towards the school but he didn’t get very far. 

His backpack was being grabbed and it sent Peter flying back. Peter yelped. The man picked him back up and held him around his chest and his legs so Peter couldn’t move. 

He knew it was only a matter of minutes before Harley would arrive and he just had to fight until then but he couldn’t. He was overpowered and scared. 

The man walked across the parking lot and towards a dark blue car with a sticker on the back. Imagination is more important than knowledge. It was the same car from last week. He was being followed this whole time. Peter screamed one last time but it was too late. 

He was being thrown into the backseat and the door was slamming shut. Peter pushed himself up and tried to pry the door open but he couldn’t. He banged on the glass and screamed. 

“No! Let me go!” Peter cried out as the man got into the car, started it and drove out of the school parking lot and onto the busy streets. Peter cried harder as he watched the school disappear from his sight. 

.  
.  
.

Harley had been waiting at the front of the school for almost fifteen minutes. 

Peter was never late for pickup time. He was always one of the first kids out of the school and raced to the car, throwing himself into the arms of whoever was picking him up. 

Harley had been looking forward to that for over two weeks and now Peter was making him wait but something was off. 

He checked his phone but no texts from Peter yet. Harley called his phone once again and groaned when there was no answer. He shut his car off and got out of it to walk into the school and into the office. 

“Excuse me. Can you page Peter Stark. I’m his older brother and I’m here to pick him up but he hasn’t come out of the school yet.” Harley said to the receptionist sitting there. 

She smiled warmly at him. “Peter Stark” Harley nodded. “Oh. His dad picked him up about twenty minutes ago. You just missed him.” 

Harley sighed. Miscommunication making him wait for no reason. “Alright. Thank you.” 

That was a waste of time. Harley walked out of the school and made his way back to his car. He started it and drove to go pick Morgan up now but he called his dad first. He groaned when he didn’t answer so he left a message. 

“Hey, dad. You could’ve told me you were picking Peter up. I waited for like fifteen minutes. I’m gonna pick Morg up and we’ll be home soon.” Harley turned off his phone after that and pulled into Morgan’s school parking lot. 

As always, she ran to the car and jumped in the back. “Harley! I missed you!” 

“I missed you too. How was school?” He put the car in drive as Morgan looked in the passenger seat and frowned. 

“Where’s Peter?” She asked, sitting back to put her seatbelt on. 

Harley rolled his eyes. “Dad picked him up and didn’t even tell me. Can you believe it?” 

Morgan giggled. “Peter’s so lucky. I bet they went out to get donuts. They did yesterday and didn’t even invite me.” 

Harley laughed. It was no surprise that Peter was attached to his dad's side all the time and going on little trips together without inviting anyone. Those two were inseparable. 

Once they got home, Harley shut the car off. He was itching to see Peter. It’s been way too long and FaceTime just doesn’t do justice. 

He opened the door and was greeted by Aiser jumping up on him. “Hey, buddy. I missed you.” 

Tony called out from the kitchen. “Hey, Harls. Let’s see how much you’ve grown since I’ve seen you.” 

Harley playfully rolled his eyes. “I’m more curious to see how much my little brother grew. Where is he? I’m so excited to see him.” 

Tony walked towards Harley. His heart dropped. He looked around but he didn’t hear or see Peter. “Where is he?” 

Harley hung his jacket up and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just got here. You picked him up.” 

Tony’s face paled. “No. You said you would. I told him you were going to pick him up. That’s what we planned, Harley.” 

Pepper walked down the stairs and a smile broke out across her face as she looked at her first born. “Hi Harley. Give me a hug.” 

Harley weakly hugged his mom back because he was more focused on where Peter was. Pepper noticed something was wrong. “What’s wrong? Where’s Peter?” 

“Harley forgot to pick him up. I’ll go get him.” Tony shook his head and quickly went to go grab his jacket and keys but Harley stopped him. 

“I didn’t forget, dad. I waited outside his school for fifteen minutes and when he didn’t come out so I went in. The receptionist said his dad picked him up. He’s not at the school.” Harley explained and it was when he saw the life leave his dad’s face that he knew something wasn’t right. Something was wrong. 

Tony braced himself against the wall and tried to breathe. 

“What-what’re you saying? I didn’t pick him up.” Tony pulled out his phone, his hands shaking like crazy to call Peter’s phone but there was no answer. He called again. 

“Oh god.” Pepper said, covering a hand over her mouth. This wasn’t good. 

Peter was gone. 

Again. 

.  
.  
.

Peter tried to kick at the door but he eventually grew tired and stopped. 

He didn’t know how long they were driving for but it was a long time. They were pulling off somewhere so Peter sat up to look around but he didn’t recognize where they were. 

It seemed to be the middle of nowhere. 

The door was being opened and the man was grabbing Peter, pulling his backpack off of him and throwing it out of the car. He rolled Peter onto his back and pinned him down so he was leaning over him. 

Peter held his breath. He looked up at the man and shook under him. 

“You don’t remember me, do you, little bear?” He asked and it had Peter whimpering. 

He took off his glasses and cap and tossed it to the ground of the car. Peter recognized him from the pizza shop last week but he had a feeling that wasn’t what the man was talking about. 

“You’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you.” He ran his hands through Peter’s hair and when Peter went to try and kick him, he pressed a firm hand down onto Peter’s hip, holding him still. 

Peter cried. “Let me go! Please. I-I want my dad. Please!” 

“Oh, little bear, your daddy wants you too. He missed you so much while you were gone.” The man got out of the car and stood up straight so Peter laid there, frozen for a few seconds, trying to process what was happening and decide what to do. 

The man’s phone rang so he immediately answered it and shut the car door. Peter sat up to try and open it but it was locked. He looked around for his own phone and when he spotted it on the floor of the passenger seat, he paused. 

He had to grab it. He had to call his dad and tell him where he was but the windows weren’t tinted and the man was staring right at him. 

Peter stared at the phone. It was so close yet so far. 

All he had to do was go into his dad's contact and press call. He could either do it quickly or very slowly but either way, he only had one chance so he couldn’t screw this up. 

Peter looked at the man. He made eye contact with him and then he was throwing himself over the seat and grabbed his phone. He didn’t have time to crawl into the back so he had to remain half upside and thrown over the seats while he unlocked his phone and pressed the call button on his dad's contact. 

It answered on the first ring. “Peter?!” 

“Daddy! I-I- no! Nooo!” The back door was being opened and the man was grabbing his legs. Peter held onto the phone. It was his only hope. 

“Give me that. _Give it_!” The man demanded but Peter held it against his chest and tried to get away but there was nowhere for him to go. 

He screamed as loud as he could as the man wrestled the phone from him and pressed the end call button. Peter’s hope chattered along with his phone. 

It was broken into a million pieces on the ground under the man’s shoe. Peter screamed louder then there was a hand being placed over Peter’s mouth. 

“Shut up! _Shut the fuck up_!” He yelled through gritted teeth. 

Peter stopped. He’s never been more scared in his entire life. He had a feeling he knew who was behind this but he was terrified to know the truth. 

“Shut up. Just…we’re switching cars. You are going to lie in the back seat and not make a _sound_ or so help me god I will strangle you.” Then man squeezed Peter’s thigh and Peter closed his eyes tightly in pain. 

He heard another car pulling up but he was too scared to open his eyes. He was being pulled out of the backseat of the car and placed onto his feet so he snapped his head up and his eyes opened. 

Peter looked around desperately. For anyone to see this and help him but there was no one there. They were in some parking lot at the back of a small shop. 

It was a black truck that pulled up and a man walked out. He was old. Old old. His hair was grey and he looked like he had pure evil in his eyes. 

The man who was holding onto Peter’s arm, stuck his hand out for the man to shake. “Ross. Where’s my money?” 

The old man, Ross, smiled down at Peter. “He’s a cute kid. No wonder they’re paying so much to get him back.” 

The man holding onto his arm squeezed harder. “I hate kids. I’m only doing this for the money so where is it.” 

“In the back.” Ross said, pointing to the back door. “As promised, Rumlow. Half a million now and half a million once the kid is delivered.” 

Peter looked up at Ross with wide eyes. As much as he hated the man holding onto him, Rumlow, he would much rather go with him than the old guy. The way he smiled at him made him feel sick. 

Ross patted his back. “Remember not to hurt him. That’s part of our deal.” 

Rumlow dragged Peter over to the back door and opened it. He grabbed a black bag out of the car and opened it up, grinning. Peter tried to look at what was inside but he couldn’t see what it was. 

“Get in.” He picked Peter up and pushed him to lie down so Peter listened. “How long?” 

Ross smirked. “I wouldn’t be able to help myself with him. Good luck.” 

Rumlow slammed the back door shut and pointed his finger at Ross’s chest. “That’s why _I’m_ the one transferring him. You’re sick. I want the rest of my money when I get there so I better fucking get it.” 

Ross began walking away from him. “You’ll get it. And don’t think you’re an angel just because you wouldn’t have fun with the kid like I would. You’re just as bad as me.” 

Rumlow spit and opened up the driver’s seat door to get in. He turned around to look at Peter who was sitting up so he quickly grabbed his wrist and bent it back, causing Peter to scream out in pain. 

“Lie the fuck down or next time I won’t stop until I hear a snap.” He grumbled and roughly let go of Peter’s wrist, causing him to fall face first into the seat and cry. 

He wanted his dad so bad. He wanted his mom and Aiser and Morgan and Harley. He missed his blanket as stupid as he felt for wanting it. Peter cried harder. He was so scared. 

.  
.  
.

Tony couldn’t wait around. 

He went to the school to talk to whoever was in charge and ask them why the fuck his kid was allowed to leave with a strange man after Tony specifically gave everyone there special instructions not to let his son leave with _anyone. Ever._

Now look where he was. 

Natasha arrived just in time to pull him back so he didn’t punch the principal in the face. She got the security footage from the front of the school and then they left. 

Once they got home to watch it, Tony raced into the bathroom and threw up. He couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t lose his kid _again_. 

He simply wouldn’t survive it this time. His body could not lose his child again. 

The only reason Tony was alive was because of Peter. Peter was his answer to everything and now he was gone. 

Kidnapped. Again. 

Tony emptied the rest of his stomach into the toilet. When he was done, he rinsed his mouth and walked into the living room where Natasha, Pepper and Harley were waiting for him with the footage ready to play on the computer. 

Tony looked at Harley. “Leave. You’re not staying.” 

“I’m twenty years old, dad, I’m not-” 

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “I swear to , _fucking god,_ Harley. _leave._ You’re not watching this.” 

Harley left after that and Tony nodded at Natasha to press play. 

He watched Peter skip out of the school and looked around. He pulled his phone out and then a man was approaching him and Tony’s blood drained from his body at the same time it looked like Peter’s did. 

The man spoke to Peter for a bit then grabbed him and Tony looked away. 

He felt sick. His poor baby. He needed to find him and he needed to be okay. 

It was when the man dropped Peter when Pepper got up and left the room. Tony knew Peter didn’t get away. If he did, he would be holding his kid in his arms right now. It was like watching the end of his life played out in front of him and he knew the outcome. 

The man grabbed Peter again and then he was taken off screen. Tony stared at the screen still. 

Natasha looked at him. “We’re gonna find him, Tony. We did last time.” 

Tony snapped at her. “After seven years! I’m not going seven years without my kid again. I want Peter back in my arms by the end of the day. I don’t fucking care.” 

He was about to go find Pepper when a dark blue car showed up on the screen. It was gone in a second so Tony rewinded and hit pause. “Oh my god. That’s the car. That’s the fucking car. Oh my god.” 

Natasha zoomed in on the sticker on the back. The same sticker. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” The license plate was about two inches off the screen. Two inches that could change everything. 

Tony went to grab his phone to call the police again and let them know they had a lead but his phone was ringing just as he picked it up and it was Peter. His heart sped up. 

“Peter?!” He needed to hear his baby’s voice. He needed to know that he was alive and okay. 

“Daddy!” Came Peter’s fearful voice. Just from that one word, Tony could hear the strong emotion and fear in his baby. “I-I- no! Nooo!” 

Tony put his end on mute just in case whoever was causing Peter to scream didn’t know he managed to get his phone. He held his breath and listened. 

“Give me that. _give it_!” Came the voice of a man and he sounded mad. 

Tony took a step away from his phone and ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god.” He whispered as he was forced to listen to the phone call. 

There were muffling sounds coming from the other end and Tony could assume it was Peter trying to fight the man off. The muffling sounds stopped which were followed by blood curdling screaming coming from Peter. 

The line went dead after that. 

Tony picked up a vase and threw it across the room. “Fuck! Trace it! Trace the call and find out where Peter is.” 

Pepper walked up to Tony and squeezed his arm. “Get him back, Tony. Get our baby back.” 

Tony was going to do everything he could to bring Peter home safe. Even if that involved trading his own life for Peter’s. 

.  
.  
.

Peter managed to stop crying. 

He was sadly hiccuping after being told to shut up so many times and smacked on the leg but it didn’t actually hurt. He didn’t think it was supposed to hurt. It was just supposed to be a warning. 

The sun was starting to set which had Peter freaking out. He was going to be spending a night away from his parents and no way to contact them. 

He knew their numbers off by heart but he had no access to a phone. 

Peter felt the truck slow down and then it was pulling onto a dirt road and stopping. Peter continued to lay down, in fear of his wrist getting broken by Rumlow. 

The car shut off and Rumlow got out but Peter still remained lying down. He looked over and could see a bit where they were from the front window. They were in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station. That caused him to start breathing faster. 

Peter heard voices. More than one. 

The back door was being opened and Peter sat up, expecting to see Rumlow or even Ross but he felt all the life leave his body at the man who took everything from him. 

Steve. 

Peter screamed and tried to crawl to the other side of the car. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way this was happening. Maybe-maybe he was drugged and he was seeing things. This was some kind of sick joke. 

“No! Nooo! Get away from me!” Peter cried harder. 

Steve was smiling at him and it brought back way too many memories that he was trying so hard to forget. 

“Hi baby bear. Daddy missed you so so much. I never stopped trying to get back to you.” Steve climbed into the truck and Peter screamed impossibly louder and made himself appear incredibly small. “Come my boy. Give your daddy a hug. Didn’t you miss me?” 

Peter shook his head. “No. I hate you! Go away. Please.” 

Steve’s face hardened. Peter knew that look. It meant he did something bad and Steve was going to guilt him into feeling awful. “Peter Rogers. Oh no. You watch your attitude, young boy.” 

“I’m not Peter Rogers. You’re not my dad.” Peter tried to move back but Steve continued to inch closer. “I know now. You lied to me and I _hate_ you. I wish you would go away!” 

Steve sighed. For a minute Peter thought Steve was going to leave him alone but he moved closer to Peter, reaching across the seat and pulling Peter’s legs towards him. 

“No. No no no nooo! Stop! Steve! No!” Peter screamed out and Steve let him go so fast that Peter was falling back and smacking his head against the car door. 

“What did you just call me?” Steve asked, narrowing his eyes at Peter. 

Peter was shaking so badly he couldn’t stop. 

Steve grabbed his wrist, pulling him closer. “Don’t you ever call me Steve. I’m daddy, baby bear. Okay?” 

Peter nodded, terrified of what might happen. 

“Call me daddy, baby bear.” 

Peter stayed silent so Steve began moving. “Okay. Then you need to be punished-” 

That brought back way too many memories. “No! No. Please. D-daddy. Okay. Okay, I’m sorry, daddy. I’m sorry.” 

Steve’s face broke out into a genuine smile. He pulled Peter in for a hug and rubbed his back. “I love you. And I missed you more than you will ever know. I know my baby bear missed me too. Let’s go home.” 

Peter released a sob at that. He wanted his real dad and his mom. 

Steve pulled him away and scanned his body. “Peter, who dressed you this morning? These clothes are too big for you.” 

Peter shook his head. “I did. I-I don’t need help anymore.” He felt like he had to tell Steve that but it only made Steve angry for a split second. 

He started shaking his head. “You do need help. It’s easier if I do it for you. Don’t worry about it.” 

Peter looked over and spotted Bucky handing Steve a bag while he smiled at Peter. “Hi Peter. I told you we’d get you back. It was harder than we thought. You were kept hidden away from us by the bad men for so long. Isn’t that so unfair?” 

Peter nodded. He knew if he didn’t he would get in trouble. Steve unzipped the bag and pulled out a long sleeved blue shirt with a dinosaur on the front. He then pulled out matching thin long pants that were green and blue followed by underwear with trains on it. 

That had Peter crying again. He couldn’t do it. He wanted to kill Steve. He hated the man so much but once again, he had full power and control over him. 

Steve grabbed the bottom of Peter’s shirt. “Arms up.” 

Peter looked at Bucky who was watching him with a proud smile on his face. Peter wanted to punch him. He knew Bucky was strong, maybe even stronger than Steve but Bucky would never hurt him. 

Once Peter’s shirt was off, Steve gently pushed him down. “Lie down, baby bear. Daddy will get you changed and then we can go home.” 

Peter stared at the ceiling of the truck and accepted his fate. He was going to be babied once again. He was still struggling with recovering from the first time. He was going to be done for now. 

He felt Steve start to undo his jean buckles so he looked down and quickly tried to push his hands away. “Please. I-I don’t need help. And-and I want to keep my jeans on. Please.” 

Steve shook his head at him and pushed his hands away. “These are too uncomfortable, bear. And you need help. I’m here to help you. It’s just easier this way.” 

Peter didn’t have a choice. He let Steve pull his jeans off and covered his hands with his eyes as he began crying. Everything that he worked so hard to recover from and get better was being thrown away right now. 

Steve grabbed the elastic on his underwear and tugged it down before Peter had the chance to stop him. “Wait- no.” 

Steve cooed. “You’re still my little boy, Peter. Daddy loves you so much.” 

Peter tried to cover himself but Steve was pushing his knees to his chest and grabbing his ankles to put the underwear through. 

Steve lifted the underwear up Peter’s legs. “Lift your bum.” 

Peter lifted his hips up, letting Steve pull the underwear up on him and feeling like he never got away. Like he didn’t learn how to dress himself and that Steve had been doing it all this time. 

He began crying again so he covered his face and let Steve manhandle him into his clothes like he always did. Peter was then being lifted up and placed on Steve’s lap. 

Peter tried to move away from him but Steve was stronger. He leaned down to whisper in Peter’s ear. “I’ll never let you go, baby bear. Never again.” 

That had Peter going still. He just laid there. 

He only looked over when he heard a lot of movement beside them and saw Bucky securing a car seat into the middle seat in the back. Peter looked down at his lap and cried. 

“Please. I-I wanna go home.” He begged the kidnapper that he once loved and believed to be his father. 

Steve shushed him. He grabbed his hand and tucked his fingers in then brought his thumb up to his lips. “Suck your thumb. We’re going home now.” 

Peter moved his head away. He was not doing that. He didn’t want to start that habit again. 

Steve didn’t force it since Bucky was handing him a bottle and poked it at Peter’s lips. “Open up. You’re gonna drink your milk and fall asleep so we can take you home. Remember like last time?” 

Peter tried to sit up but Steve held him down. “No. I’m not! I’m fourteen! I’m-I’m not a baby!” 

Steve was clicking his tongue. “Of course you’re not a baby, Peter. But you need help with things and it’s just easier if I do it for you. You take too long and you need help, right?” 

Peter nodded, so used to agreeing with everything Steve wanted him to believe but he wasn’t going to continue to do that. “No! I said no! I’m saying no. I’m not a baby and babies drink from babas so… no.” 

Steve was pulling Peter down so his arms were pinned to his side and his legs couldn’t move. He brought the bottle up to Peter’s lips again. “Open and drink your milk. I don’t appreciate your attitude. Drink it all.” 

Peter opened his mouth and went to grab it so he could hold it but Steve pushed his hands away and held it himself. 

While Peter drank the milk, he thought about his dad and where he was. If he was looking for him yet. At least Peter now knew he had a dad to look for him. 

Tony was coming for him. Peter knew it. He had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone know if there’s a way to make italic words transfer over to ao3 so I don’t have to keep adding the stupid little things to each word? It’s frustrating and time consuming. 
> 
> Also has anyone seen Cherry? What did you think of it? 
> 
> Just wow! It’s probably one of my favourite movies, in the top ten I’d say. It’s the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. And I’m not just saying that because Toms in it, I mean I only watched it because Toms in it but it was amazing omg! I’m being honest, The devil all the time movie was bad. I watched it and I dome even really know what it was about but Cherry, just wow. The acting from Tom and ciara is phenomenal!


End file.
